A High School Fairy Tale
by watrfairie
Summary: Kit is a Senator's daughter who gets to go to England to visit her family. While she's there, she discovers a secret about her family's past. While she is trying to figure it out, she falls in love and gets into a lot of trouble. Can she get out safely?
1. Prologue

A High School Fairytale

Prologue

When I was little, Mother would tell me a story about a girl named Clara. This girl was cursed and had to do whatever she was told to do. (I don't think that Mother always disapproves of this, considering I am a bit rebellious.) One day this Clara girl met a prince and later married him. I know that you are thinking that I'm weird telling you this, but there is a point. According to Mother, Clara had a fairy godmother! A real live fairy! Also, that Clara had fairy blood in her, but not enough so that she could do magic, but enough to give her small feet, called fairy feet. When I was told this, I would burst out laughing and say, "Then mother, I must be related to this Clara, because I have fairy feet too!" You see, I also have very small feet, so naturally I am very clumsy.

A few years ago, mother had stopped telling me this story until this afternoon when she came up to me with a very serious expression on her face. "Kitiara, you should sit down, I need to tell you something." So, thinking that she was going to tell me that my father was terribly ill or something, I just plopped down on the floor! She laughed at me, and told me to sit in a chair like a young lady, so I did. Then she said something that I'm still trying to comprehend. "Kitiara, you remember the stories that I told you about Clara, the girl who was cursed?" I nodded my head. "Well, you are related to her." I just sat there staring at her. "Honey, you are her great-great-great granddaughter." I still said nothing. Sighing, mother tried again. "You know how every female in our family is named Clarice on my side? Well, that is why. We are all named after Clara's grandmother, though some go by Clara, Clare, Clarice, Reece, whatever we like. I decided to break the tradition, so I named you differently, but that doesn't matter. You used to say that you had fairy feet, well, you do. I have them too, as well as all of your grandmothers and aunts on my side of the family." She stopped and stared at me. I'm still saying nothing, just looking at her like she is insane. "Oh do stop that! In not kidding, I'm very serious!"

"Mother, you can't be serious, because you just told me that one of my relatives was a fairy! I'm going to go call the doctor. Better yet; I'm going to get Lucy." Lucy was my childhood nurse that somehow just stuck around with us. She works as a maid now, but still takes care of my mother and myself when we get sick.

"I'm fine! You have to listen to me! And Clara was not a fairy, she just had fairy blood."

"Sure mom, I believe you. Lucy! Lucy, Mother is really sick! I need some help!" I shouted, because I had no clue where she was. At the sound of my voice, the little lady named Lucy came bustling in. Feeling Mother's forehead for a fever, she looked over at me.

"There is nothing wrong with your mother Kit. Why did you think there was?" she said, straightening her skirts. Staring at her, and then at my mother, I open my mouth, but nothing came out. Seeing my distress, Lucy glanced over at my mother. "You told her didn't you?" she asked.

"I had too! She is old enough to know the truth, so I told her! And it's not like she won't find out soon enough anyways. I mean, it happened to my mother's mother, it happened to my mother, and it happened to me, so it will happen to her soon as well! I just wanted her to be ready when it does."

"But Lady, she obviously thinks that you need to go to a hospital now, and by the looks of it, she thinks the same of me." Mandy stated very seriously, glancing over at where I had now collapsed on the floor. No I didn't faint; I just couldn't stay standing anymore.

"Would someone please tell me what is going on?" I demanded from where I was sitting. "And what happened to Grams Nana and you? What is going to happen to me? Why do I have no clue what you are talking about?"

As my mother and Lucy exchanged glances, my mother recounted the story of Clara, but a different version than what I have read in books. This version, Clara was from England, and not from some distant world, which is why all the ladies on my mother's side have an English accent, including me, and why we always go to England when they reach a certain age. To go visit our family, who just happens to be high up in the line for the throne! For some reason, she had just never bothered to mention this to me before now.

I couldn't take it anymore, so I did the only thing I could think of doing. I ran. Since I live in Washington D.C. where my father is a senator, I have to have a body guard follow me whenever I leave the house, but I was so out of it, I didn't even notice that someone was following me. I ran until I got to a park, which just happened to be my favorite spot, about eight blocks from our house. Running through the park is a little brook surrounded by woods on one side, and a few trees on the side that I was on. Seeing a bridge, I bolted to it and raced over to where I knew there was a weeping willow on the other side. Upon reaching it, I collapsed on the ground, heart pounding.

Seeing me fall, my two wonderful body guards came racing even faster after me. Since I didn't know they were there, I didn't bother to set a slower pace for them, since they can't run as fast and as far as I can, but seeing me fall gave them extra strength. When they reached me, one of them came over to me and helped me up, while the other guy, much older and larger than the first, tried to catch his breath. Looking up at the guy, I noticed that I had never seen him before. _He must be new._ I thought to myself. _I guess they figured out that old Giles over there just isn't enough to watch over rambunctious  
me. At least he is close to my age. I bet that they figured that a young boy might settle me down! Ha! This could be fun!_

"Are you alright miss?" the new boy asked. "You gave us quite a fright running out like that. We thought that you had seen a ghost or something judging from how pale you were. Your color seems to be coming back, but you are still shaking a bit." That was when I noticed that he was still holding me, more like hugging me really. So I backed away from him slowly.

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm sorry about that. I forgot that Giles had to follow me. I just thought that I'd get a bit of fresh air, climb some trees, walk around and maybe run a bit. I didn't know that you would come as well, Sir. If I had, then I might have slowed down a bit and let you catch up." I said, smiling a little, but keeping my eyes on my shoes.

"A funny lass! They said that I would get a handful out of you, but they never said anything about a sense of humor! Oh, forgive my terrible manors, I never introduced myself. My name is Tristan. I am to be your new body guard because Giles decided to retire."

I had forgotten all about Giles! "Oh! Giles, you're retiring? Did I wear you out that much? I had no idea that I was that much of a handful!" I told him laughing.

"Nonsense child! You were a joy. It is just that my old body can't keep up with a sprightly young lass like you. My wife would like me home a bit more, so I decided to let her have me." Giles told us. Now that I look at him, he does look pretty old, which I had never noticed.

After we had talked for some time, we all turned around back to the house, for it was getting close to supper and sundown. About a block from home, I turned to Tristan. "I'm sorry; I never told you who I am. I'm..."

"I know perfectly well who you are." he said chuckling a bit. "Unless you are not five foot six, have long curly auburn hair down to your mid back, bright green eyes with blue flecks, and the daughter of a senator, then I do need an introduction." Finishing his speech, he turned to look at me. _Well duh he would know all this; he is to be my new body guard!_ So I just looked at him like a dork and cocked my head. At this, he just started laughing. I guess I must have looked ridiculous, because Giles did as well.

Smiling, I playfully hit them both. "What?" I demanded.

"I'm sorry Lady," Giles said whipping tears from his eyes because he was laughing so hard, "but in all my years of watching you, you have never looked so dumbstruck!" At this, I also started to laugh, because I normally have some witty comeback to everything. Instead, I just tapped Giles on the shoulder.

As he turned to me, I smiled at him and said curtly, "You're it!" and I took off running the rest of the way home laughing and screaming while he and Tristan just looked at each other and then took off after me.

When I got back to my house, I bolted through the door to the laundry room and hid behind the dryer. A few seconds later, Tristan burst in and a bit after that Giles came in. Since Giles knew me better, Tristan turned to him for help finding me. "Where could she have gone? The house isn't that big, so she couldn't have that many hiding places. Could she?"

"Well, as you will find out, she is an expert at not being seen when she wants to be hidden. Also, she is excellent at ditching people, so you always need to have your guard up around her. She may be a pretty little lass, but she is very tricky and cunning. She has street smarts, so she can get herself out of a jam, but she does need a little help once in a while. As to where she has hidden herself, there is only one place I can think of."

"And where might that be oh Master of Hide-and-Seek?" Tristan asked, giving his predecessor a huge grin.

"Under her bed of course! Where do all girls go, but to their rooms?"

"Under her bed? Can she fit under there?"

"Come with me, I'll show you." So off they went, supposedly to my room, but I knew better. Giles knew that I was somewhere in hearing rang, but didn't know exactly where, so he thought that he could trick me! _Clever man, but it didn't work. _So I hopped out from where I was hiding and raced after them hoping to scare at least one of them. As I raced to my room, I never came across them, so I just plopped down on my bed. _I'll just talk to them tomorrow._ So now I am just sitting here thinking about what my mother told me. _Could I really be related to a person out of a book? This just doesn't seem real!_ And with that, I drifted off to sleep.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

All this week, I have been avoiding Mother and Lucy. I'm still not sure if I believe them or not, but it was fairly easy to avoid them, because it is final exam review week, meaning...all night cram time!

Pretty much other day, my older brother Nathanial, who is a senior this year, drove me to and from school. Even though he is only a year older than me, we are really close, but there was no way that I was going to tell him about what Mother and Lucy told me. Unfortunately though, Tristan kept bugging me about why I flipped out that night (You know, for a body guard, he is really nosey!), which got Nate into asking me what happened, but I kept my mouth firmly shut.

"Oh come on Kitiara! You have to tell me what happened! If I am to protect you, then I have to know if you are in some sort of danger!" Tristan protested.

"What happened is none of your business! And nothing is endangering me! I'm not talking to you any more!" I yelled at him for the fifth time that morning.

"Then will you at least tell me?" Nathanial asked. _Man! If they start working together, I don't know if anybody could keep something back! I think that they should be criminal questioners or something, because working together, they could crack anybody! Luckily for me, they are not._ I thought.

"If Tristan hadn't started bugging me about this, you wouldn't have even known so like I told him, BUT OUT! If you really wanted to know, I thought I saw a huge spider, okay? That was all." I said, trying to get them to shut up.

"I know you better than that Kit, you aren't scared of spiders, not even big ones. And even if your new body guard hadn't brought it up, I would have found out sooner or later. Come on, you never keep anything from me! Please, I beg you, tell me what happened!" Nate persisted.

"NO!" I screamed at him. For the rest of the drive to school, I never said another word to either of them.

This went on everyday that week, to and from school, which didn't help my attention any, because all I could think about was what Mother told me. _Could I really be related to a fairytale character? Is that even possible? Oh shoot, I didn't hear what my teacher asked me. I have got to stop day dreaming!_

On Saturday night, we had Prom, and since I'm a junior, I was allowed to go, but I didn't have a date, so I had to 'go' with Tristan. Since he is close to my age though, all the girls in my class thought that he was a total hotty, and kept asking him to dance. (Yes,

They had seen him at school all that week, but didn't have any time to talk to him. Teachers are very strict about talking during school hours.)

For After-Prom, a group of my friends, their dates, Tristan and I went to the a park on the side of the Potomac River, which runs right through Washington D.C., which was about a mile from my neighborhood. While there, we had a little picnic breakfast of pancakes and bacon, specially prepared by one of my friend's mother, and watched the sun rise. I must say, it was quite romantic! _Pity I don't have a boyfriend to share this with._

Since I'm not aloud to drive, Tristan took me home. When I got inside, my mother was waiting in the kitchen for me.

"How was the dance?" she asked.

"It was really nice." I replied, trying to say as little as possible, because I was still not talking to her.

"You know, you have to talk to me sometime. You can't just go on with your life without talking to your own mother."

"Who said I wasn't talking to you? I'm talking to you know am I not?"

"Oh don't be such a smart alic, you know exactly what I mean. What I told you is true you know. When my mother told me, I didn't what to believe her any more than you want to believe me. And finding out that Lucy was my fairy godmother didn't help any either. I...oh no. I didn't tell you that, did I?"

"Lucy is your what? No way, not that too. Mother, you really need to get some help! There are no such things as fairies! And there is no way on earth that I am related to a fictional character! It is all in your head. Just because you, Grams and Nana are all named Clarice, doesn't mean that you are named after this story character! Tomorrow, at a more decent hour, I am going to tell Father what is going on, and hopefully get you some help." And with that, I walked out of the kitchen and up to my room.

"Your father already knows." she called after me. That stopped me dead in my tracks. Turning around, I saw her standing in the hallway with me, and Nathanial coming in through the door behind her.

"I didn't think that you would still be up mom!" he said in shock. "When did you get home Kit?" he asked me, seeing me there as well.

"Just now actually. I was just saying goodnight to Mother, and then heading up to my room." I said, giving myself an excuse to leave.

"We are going to talk some more tomorrow Kitiara. You have to know. I'm sorry, but you have to know the truth!" Mother pleaded.

"Sure Mother, we'll talk tomorrow. Night!" I called behind me, even though I had no intension of talking with her about it again.

As I got to the stairs, I heard Nate ask, "What was that all about? What truth does she have to know about? Am I going to be told this? And what has been with her this week? She has been acting really oddly."

"You already know. Remember what I told you about two years ago, about one of our ancestors?" my mother asked him.

"Oh, you mean that Clara girl? Yeah, I remember. What...oh, she doesn't believe you, does she. How much have you told her? Not all of it I gather."

"No. Only what she is still trying to grasp."

"Have you told her about Lucy being her fairy godmother?"

"I mentioned just now about Lucy being my fairy godmother, but not hers'."

"What about her secret? Have you told her about that? About the..."

"Nathanial, I'm not going to discuss it with you any further here. You know how she loves to eaves drop. For all we know, she could be standing at the top of the stairs freaking out because of all that I haven't told her. All that you have let slip. I am willing to discuss this with you at another time, but not when I haven't heard her door shut yet." she lectured. _How did she know that I was here? Oh shoot, Nate is going to come up here too. I better go to bed, and close my door softly._

Getting into bed, a thought came to me. _What does she mean my fairy godmother? And what secret was Nate talking about?_ _Wait, if he believes her, then it has to be true!_ _No! It can't be true!_ _Oh God, please let it not be true! I can't deal with this, not right before exams! _And with those thoughts, I drifted off to sleep.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Yesterday was my last exam, which meant that I was now free for the summer! I am probably going to have to get a job, but my mother wanted to talk to me about something first. It turned out to be a trick, because I was cornered by my mother and father, who made me listen to what Mother had to say about my 'Grandmother Clara.' I'm still not sure if I believe what she said, but I promised that I would think about it. Basically, she told me that my 'grandmother' was a princess, which meant that I was a princess, even though the throne had been taken from my family right before my grandmother's grandmother got to become queen, or my great-great grandmother. Also, that Lucy really was a fairy, and that she was my fairy godmother. She also gave me some great news to help the shock sink in. I'm going to London for the summer!

"Your father has been able to arrange a trip to London for you to meet my family!" my mother said, with a smile plastered all over her face. "I know that you have only been able to talk to them on the phone, so I thought it would be nice to be able to meet them! Your plain leaves in a week, so you had best go pack your thinks and figure out what we need to buy. I know that you will have a splendid time. Now hurry along and tell your friends."

"Oh Mother, Father, thank you so much! I have always wanted to go to London! I can't believe that I get to go! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I squealed, enveloping them both in a huge hug. I ran up to my room and got on the phone to call all of my friends with the great news. As soon as they heard my door close, my father turned to my mother looking concerned.

"You forgot to tell her about the…"

"I did not forget to tell her anything." she interrupted. "I simply did not tell her everything." my mother finished regally.

"You need to tell her before someone else does, or before she gets hurt!" my father pleaded with her.

"I will tell her when she finally believes that I am not going insane! I do not want to hurt Kitiara any more than you do, but she is a fragile girl, and I don't want to stress her too much! I know that I am doing what is best. I promise, I will tell her before she leaves."

"If you say so." And with that my father left to go to work at Congress. My father is not a young man, but he isn't old either. He is about six feet tall, with dark brown hair that is beginning to show some gray. He has been a Congressman for three years now, and will continue to be one for another three, and maybe more if he decides to run again.

"I might be late getting home for dinner. I want to pick something up for Kit as a going away gift. Don't wait for me." he called from the door.

"Be safe dear!" my mother called after him. She is a few years younger than my father, and slight in build. She has wavy brown hair like I do, and green eyes. She has a wonderful sense for music, which I guess is where I get it from because my father is completely tone deaf.

"She will find out, even if you don't tell her you know." Nathanial said from the steps where he had been sitting listening to their entire conversation.

"What makes you so sure? I will tell her, but we don't know if it will happen or not." my mother answered back.

"It happened to you, and it will happen to her! You cannot deny who she is mother, and you cannot deny what will happen to her. This is the summer of her seventeenth year. If it will happen, which it most likely will, it will happen now."

"Just because I was cursed, doesn't mean that she will be too! Family curses normally die after five generations anyways." Mother stated in her defense.

"She is the fifth generation! If it will die, it will die after she finds her curse! For heavens sake, we don't even know what it is yet! How can you be sending her over seas when you know it will come? How is she going to handle herself over there, where she will have no one to turn to when she finds out? What if it is like the original curse? What if she has to be obedient? Have you thought about what is really best for her, or are you sending her away because you can't bear to see her suffer like you did? I care about my sister, and I don't want anything to happen to her."

"I care for my daughter too, but since we don't know what it is that will curse her, I am sending her to the only place where she can break it, like I did when I was her age." She was starting to weep now. "Her grandmothers are the only ones who can help her, not me. I wish that I could, but I can't! I just can't!"

Nathanial came over and hugged his mother because she was crying hysterically now. "Shh, everything will be okay. Everything's okay."


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The week before my plane left was full of running from store to store getting all the things that I would need for the trip, packing all of my new and old stuff into multiple suitcases, and making a long list of things that I would need to buy once there that I couldn't take with me. As I had promised to my mother, I had thought about all that she had said. She had told me that Lucy was my fairy godmother, so I didn't have to go on what I had overheard, though she didn't know that. She also told me that I was going to face some problems while there, and that my grandmothers where always going to be there for me, and that if I needed absolutely anything, I was to go straight to them. She even whispered something about them being the only ones that could help me, but I don't think she knew I heard her.

Finally, the day before my plane was to leave, I had all of my bags packed and in the trunk of our Ford Explorer. My mother and father kept going over a mental list of things that I possibly could have forgotten, my friends were there giving me hugs, even though I wasn't leaving until the next day, and presenting me with so many gifts that I had to put them all in another bag. Nathanial was all the while standing off to the side watching everything, and occasionally talking with Tristan. _Those two have gotten really close all of a sudden. I wonder why? And what the heck are they talking about? _I wondered.

At something Nathanial said, Tristan nodded and went inside the house. Moments later, I saw him walk back outside with a duffle back on his shoulder, walk over to the car, and put it in next to mine. "What are you doing? I didn't pack that." I told him.

"I know, I did." he said. Seeing my confused face, he sighed and explained. "Kit, I'm going with you. I can't exactly do my job of protecting you, when you are thousands of miles away over an entire ocean, can I?" My jaw dropped.

"Kit, I asked him to go with you." Nathanial said, coming up next to me. "I'm sorry, but I'd feel better if I knew that you were safe! I hope you'll someday forgive me."

"Nate! Arg!" I grunted, stomping over to where my friends still stood. "Hey, I am not going to get much sleep on the plane, so I am going to turn in early, so could I see you guys tomorrow before I leave?" I asked.

"Of course!" "We'll see you tomorrow!" "I won't be able to make it, so have a safe flight!" "Have fun!" "What did Tristan put in the car?" "Is he going to go with you?" I was bombarded with questions, and hugs. After answering most of them, they slowly left, and I walk back inside. It was only four in the afternoon, but I had a very early flight, so I really was going to go to sleep, until my parents caught up with me.

"Honey, we need to talk." my mother said, stopping me.

I turned around to face them from the fifth step that I was on. "Again? Mother, can't this wait until tomorrow? I wanted to sleep because I am not sure how I will be able to on the plane."

"Yes, now." Sighing, I sat on the steps where I was. "Here is good I guess." Mother said. Just then, Nathanial walked in and went up the steps and sat next to me. He glanced at my mother, and she went on, glancing at him every once-in-a-while. "There is

still something that I have to tell you, and was hoping to put it off till the last minute before you got on the plane, but that would have been to unfair to you."

"Okay, what is it this time. You are sending me to London because you have arranged me to marry? Is that it? No, you are sending me to live there permanently?" I said, but seeing the hurt look on my mother's face, I quickly corrected myself. "Mother, I was kidding! I didn't mean it. What did you want to tell me?"

"I just wanted to make sure that you finally believe me. I know that you don't want to, but you must! For your own safety, you must believe me!" Mother pleaded.

"I don't know; it is a hard thing to believe, that my great-great grandmother was a story book character and all. And that Lucy is my fairy godmother? Then she would have to be like five hundred years old! Prove it, and I'll believe you." I said, crossing my arms indignantly.

As I was talking, Lucy, our house maid had come in as well. She and my mother exchanged looks, and then Mother nodded her head. "Kitiara, if I prove to you that I really am a fairy, you will believe your mother?" Lucy said, looking at me seriously. I nodded. "Okay then, what would you have me do? Remember, nothing to big. I'm not aloud to use big magic."

I thought for a moment, and then smiled. "I want you to take Tristan's bag out of the car and put on the step below me." Again, Lucy looked at Mother, but she nodded her head hesitantly.

"Okay, but I'll have to put it back. We don't want him to know about me, or you for that matter. As you know, people have a hard time adjusting to something that they thought was not possible." Lucy said. She rolled up her sleeves, waved her hands, and whispered some inaudible words. Suddenly, there was a swirling wind and at the foot of the stairs, Tristan's bag appeared. My jaw dropped, and I ran out to the car to see if it was a trick, but his bag was gone.

Walking back inside, I sat on my step again, my jaw still hanging open. "How did you...that is not possible! It has to be a trick!" Nathanial put his hand on my shoulder.

"Kit, you have to believe them, they aren't joking. They never were." he said seriously. I turned my head to look at him. I tried to bolt up the stairs to my room, but he grabbed me firmly by the arms and I toppled on top of him. "Kit, you have to believe! Your life may depend on it!"

"What? I could die because our maid is a witch? Does anybody else see how ludicrous this is, or is it just me? Nate, they have brain washed you! Lucy is a witch, not a fairy!" I cried out.

"You promised that you would believe it Lucy proved that she was a fairy! Kitiara calm down!" Nate told me. I stopped struggling against him and sat back on my step, but he kept a hand on me.

"You said something about my life depending on whether I believed you or not, so what is that nonsense about?" I asked, still ready to bolt.

"First, do you believe me?" Mother asked. I hesitated for quite a long time, but in the end, I nodded my head. "Good, because you are not going to like what I'm going to tell you next any better than what I have already told you." she stopped, making sure that I was going to stay put, and that I understood what she was saying. My father put a hand on her shoulder in encouragement for her to go on. Taking a deep breath, she did.

"Kitiara, you know quite well that in the story, your Grandmother Clara was cursed with obedience. Well…"

"Wait, you are not going to tell me that I am cursed, are you? I interrupted.

"Well, curses last for five generations, so yes; I am saying that you are cursed." The last was said in a rush as if the taste of the words in her mouth tasted as bad as they sounded. I was stunned. I could not talk, let alone move. "Kit, I was cursed, just like my mother, her mother, and her mother. You are the last, hopefully, because you are the fifth generation after the curse was made."

"So you are saying that I am cursed. Okay, I can handle that." I said slowly. "I have never noticed any curse, so tell me, what is it?"

"That's the problem." Until that moment, my father had been totally silent. "We don't know what it is. After the first curse, the curse chose what it was going to be for what person. Clara was cursed with obedience. Her daughter was cursed with Honesty. Her daughter was cursed with perfection. Your Nana was cursed with lust, and your

Mother was cursed with curiosity, which I must say got her into loads of trouble." he finished laughing, probably at a funny memory.

"I don't think mine was really a curse, more of a side effect from learning of the curses." Mother spoke up, elbowing Father. "But yes, my curiosity did get me into a number of jambs. Some of which your father had to save me from, and others I had to save him from. All in all, I could break it, and all of your grandmothers were able to break theirs."

"Um, you never answered my question. What is my curse?" I asked again. Then it hit me. "You do not know, do you?" My suspicion was confirmed when they shook their heads. "You knew about this the entire time, didn't?" I asked Nate. He nodded. "Is this why you are sending me to London? Because you don't know what my curse is? You want Nana to deal with it for you, is that it? I do not believe this! You are making me go over there because you can not handle me!" I was fuming now. _How can they do this to me? I am their daughter! Wait, why doesn't Nick have a curse? Oh, duh, because only the girls get it. This bites! _I thought to myself.

"No, that is not why we are sending you over to London!" my mother cut into my thoughts. "You are going because I don't know how to break to curse. If you get one at all, the only people who can break it will be your grandmothers! Do you honestly think that I would just abandon you like that?" Mother was crying now.

I went up to my room and laid down on my bed, hoping to fall asleep so that I would not have to on the plane, but sleep never came. Instead, I kept going over and over in my head all the things that my parents had sprung on me in the last few weeks. With my head so busy trying to fully comprehend everything, I had a ruff night. When I finally did fall asleep, I kept having these weird dreams about someone following me through the streets of London, and a foreboding feeling that I had not been told everything, even if that was all that my mother knew of. All in all, when it was time to leave the next morning for my plane, I was not the happiest girl in the world.

The airport was full of people running from security points to gates and from one gate to another. Lots of people were milling around the shops and the food areas. Another group of people were just sitting at their respective gate waiting for their plains to taxi to the gate. When I got to my gate, I turned to face the crowd of people that had

Accompanied me their. My mother, father, and brother where there of course, as well as Lucy, and a horde of my friends. Unfortunately, Tristan was there as well. It's not that I do not like the guy; I just do not want him to come on this trip with me!

"Are you sure that you can do this?" Mother asked for the thousandth time that morning.

"Yes Mother, I will be okay. I promise." I replied.

"Okay then. Are you sure that you have everything packed? Socks, shoes, underwear…"

"Mother!" I shouted, trying to get her to stop before she embarrassed me any more. "If I find that I have forgotten anything, I will either call or have you send it to me, or I will go out and buy it."

"Okay then, I guesses you are all set!" she said, starting to cry. She rushed over and pulled me into a tight hug. "Be safe my darling." she whispered in my ear.

"I will Mother." I said, hugging her back. After my mother, my father came and gave me a hug, saying the same thing. Then all of my friends rushed up as one and grabbed me into a huge group hug, with lots of tears and sniffles. _I am only going to be gone for the summer, I will be back senior year, so why are they all crying? _I thought to myself, hugging them back.

Lastly, Nate came up and gave me a hug. He glanced over and Tristan while doing so and said, "If anything happens to her, I will come over there personally and hurt you." I stirred in his arms surprised. I knew he was protective of me, but I had no idea he cared that much about my well being. "You stay out of trouble, you hear me?" he told me. I nodded my head. Of all the people to start crying for, it was for leaving my brother behind. He could be the most annoying person I have ever met, but he was my brother, and I loved him dearly.

"I will be a good girl." I told him laughing a little. "Now let go or I will miss my plane!" I called, hearing that they were starting to board my flight. He let go and I quickly whipped away my tears so that no one would notice. My mother rushed over for one last hug before I ran to the gate, with Tristan close behind me.

"Thank you for flying Royal Airways, I hope you have a nice flight!" the ticket lady said handing me back my ticket stub so that I could find my seat. I smiled politely at her, and walked down the ramp onto to the plane. _Whatever you do, _I told myself, _don't look back._ I stepped onto the plain and sighed in relief. The stewardess helped me find my seat, and to my disgruntlement, found that Tristan's was right next to me.

I sat down and stared out the window and watched as we took off. I spent half the flight up till lunch sleeping, because I did not do so the night before, and the other half I spent playing cards, reading, listening to music, or a combination. One time while I was playing card and listening to music, Tristan tapped my earpiece.

"What? Did I hit you are something?" I asked.

"No, but the stewardess wanted to know what you wanted for lunch." he told me.

"Oh, um, I did not know we got lunch on the plane. What do you have?" I asked. The stewardess rolled her eyes and repeated her speech that she had probably had to give a dozen times already. "A turkey and cheese sandwich sounds great, and may I have a ginger ale to go with it?" As she pulled out my food, I noticed that Tristan was still looking at me. "What?" I asked him.

"I was just wondering how long you are going to give me the cold shoulder. Giles said that I would have a hard time getting on your good side, but it's harder than I thought it would be."

"Would you like to play cards when lunch is over?" I asked, trying to make up for how rude I had been the last couple of weeks. I knew that I had been ignoring him because he kept pestering me about what was wrong when Mother had first told me about my heritage, but I had no idea that I had begun to hate him for it!

"Sure." he said, smiling at me for the first time in what seemed like ages. _You know, he really is quite cute. I might be able to enjoy his company on the trip after all! I just wish he was not coming as a chaperone._ I groaned inwardly. The rest of the flight we spent talking and playing cards.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Thank you again for flying Royal Airways. I hope the flight wasn't too long, and I hope you have a nice stay in London. Please stay seated until we are at the gate, and have a good day." The captain said, just after a bumpy landing. The flight was a total of seven hours, so naturally I had grown quite restless. I think Tristan became quite annoyed with me because I kept squirming. Finally, we were able to get of that forsaken hunk of metal that flies, and I swear, I never want to fly ever again! I'll take a boat back home thank you!

"So, do you know who is coming to pick us up?" Tristan asked from my shoulder, looking around the terminal.

Doing the same, I didn't see anyone I recognized. "Um, maybe we should get our bags first." I suggested shrugging. Nodding, Tristan started following signs to baggage claim. Once there, we hunted around, trying to find the right carousel, but instead, found all the bags from our flight lined up against a wall. "That's odd, why did they do that?" I asked bewildered.

"Because they ran out of carousels." Tristan responded, pointing to a sign above the bags. Glaring at him sideways, I went to retrieve my bags. Even though I'm talking with him now, doesn't mean that I'm all chummy with him yet.

After finding our bags, we walked around a bit, trying to find someone I recognized, or at least a sign with our names on it. After about half an hour, we decided to look outside. Surprisingly, there were about twenty men in black suits holding up signs; one had my name on it. Walking over to the man, I introduced myself and Tristan.

"Hello Miss! Fine day it is. Well, I only have instructions for you, but I guess I could take 'im as well." The man said, with a strong English accent. "My name's Will; I'll be driven' you today. If you would follow me, I'll take you to the car." He was nice enough to take my bags!

"I like him!" I whispered to Tristan, who in turn rolled his eyes. Following Will, I started to cross the one way street.

Before I got all the way across, I felt someone run into me, pushing me to the ground on the other side of the street. "Blood and ashes! What do you think you are doing?" Tristan yelled at me, from where he lay on the ground next to me.

"What am I doing, what are you doing? Why in the world did you push me?" I yelled back.

"I saved your life, that's what! You almost got yourself run over!" he yelled back again.

"What! I looked, there was no one there!" I shouted again, sitting up.

"No, you looked left! They drive on the opposite side of the street here, remember?" Tristan also sat up.

Opening my mouth to retort, I shut it again, realizing what I had just done. Looking up, I saw that he was right. I followed Tristan with my eyes as he ran back across the street to get the bags he had dropped, when leaping after me. Once he was back on my side of the street, he looked at me concerned. "Are you hurt? Other than your pride that is." He asked, helping me up.

"I'm okay." I mumbled. "Thanks."

"Are you coming or not?" Will asked, rolling down his window as he drove up to us. Both Tristan and I stared in shock. We got to ride in a limo!

"Um, yeah!" I said; grabbing my book-bag and helping Tristan shove his things in the trunk, and hopping in.

"So, who is your grandmother anyways?" Tristan asked, once we were well onto the highway. "I mean, she has to be important to have a limo and driver."

"No, she is just rich. My entire family is. We are not important anymore." I responded, the last barely audible. The ride wasn't long, but it wasn't short either. Stepping out of the limo, Tristan and I stared up at the house we had just arrived at. "Wow." I gaped

"I take it you've never been here before." Tristan said. I simply shook my head. "Well, shall we go in?" he asked.

The house in front of us was more of a manor than a house. The outside was stone for all three floors, a circular tower on the right front corner of the house (facing the street), with large bay windows on the first floor, and several personal balconies on the two upper floors. Walking up to the gate, I opened it and continued up to the door. The fence and gate were made of black iron. On either side of the front cobblestone walkway, were gardens. Lush greens and purples, blues and reds.

Before we got to the steps leading to the double doors, which had stain glass windows on either side, the doors opened and three women came rushing out to meet us. "Kitiara, you look absolutely darling!" the eldest said, moving much slower than the others.

"My, how you've grown!" the youngest one chimed in.

"Who's the boyfriend?" the third one asked.

"Hello Nana, Aunt Sophia, Grams; it's good to finally be here!" I said, giving them each a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "This is Tristan, my body guard, not my boyfriend."

"Well, he should be; he is certainly cute enough to be." Nana said, elbowing me in the ribs.

"Ladies, it is a pleasure to meet you. I hope it is alright that I accompanied your granddaughter here." Tristan said.

"And he has impeccable manners!" Grams exclaimed.

"Lady, you should not be outside without your sweater!" a man called from the open door.

"Well then, let's go inside." Nana said, giving the man a scowl. "That is Thomas, my butler. He thinks he has to baby sit me because I am ninety years old! I may be old, but I can still walk."

Stepping inside, I gasped in surprised for the third time that day, because the house was just so magnificent! Directly to the right was a massive, old fashioned kitchen, running the length of the house; big enough to accommodate an entire staff for a restaurant! On the left was a living/sitting room with a great fire place. This room was conjoined with the tower, and had bay window raping around the curved wall. There were several couches in there, most of which did not look terribly inviting. The foyer went all the way to the back of the house, with large double glass doors looking out onto

a patio and a large garden. In the back left corner, there was a grand U shaped staircase leading upstairs, stopping at both of the upper floors.

"Thomas, please take my granddaughter and her friend to there rooms." Nana said to the man who had ushered them inside the massive house.

"Oh course Lady." Thomas said, bowing slightly. "If you would please follow me." he said, indicating that he meant us.

Shrugging, I grabbed my bags and followed him up the stairs. Once at the top of the stairs, all I could see where walls. "Um, what are all these rooms?" I asked Thomas.

"I guess I should give you a tour so that you do not get lost; pay attention now." he said in monotone. He led us down a hall towards the front of a house which revealed another hallway leading to the side that did not have the tower. "The room in the front right corner facing the house is your Grams' room. The one next to it that occupies the back right corner is your Nana's room. The room that accommodates the tower is your room, lady Kitiara, and the one in-between yours and your Grams' room shall be the young lord's room. The room directly across from it is your Aunt Sophia's room. Now if you will drop you things right here and follow me upstairs."

We did as we were told, and followed him upstairs. What we saw were more walls. "Um, more rooms?" I asked; a rather stupid question.

"This floor is an exact duplicate of the floor beneath us. This floor is where your Aunt Sophia has her office, and your Grams has an extra sitting room, and your Nana has an indoor garden, though I don't see why she persists on coming all the way up here when she can just go out back." Thomas grumbled to himself. Obviously, he takes his job very seriously! "Room above the young sir's room is an exercise room, so you do not have to go to a gym if you wish to work our, or run on a treadmill. The room above Lady Kitiara's room is off limits, even if we knew how to get into it. This house is very old, and since there is no visible way into that room, it was never renovated, so it is most likely unstable. My advise, don't go looking for a way in.

"Thank you for the tour, I believe we can take it from here." Tristan said politely.

"Yes, thanks a lot." I chimed in, hoping that the grumpy man would just leave us alone. He didn't though.

"You are not to wonder outside of the gate. The yard is fenced all the way around the front and back yards, so don't leave or you might get lost or kidnapped. This neighborhood may be very nice, but there are still men who would grab at the chance to take a pretty young girl with them. Your relatives are very busy people, and at certain points in the day, you may not disturb them. Your Nana is a very old lady, and I intend to keep her living as long as I can, so don't go fooling around trying to make her do too much. Supper is at eight, breakfast is at nine in the morning, and dinner is whenever you want it. Tea in the afternoon is at four everyday, and I strongly advise that you not miss it young lady. It is important for a young girl to keep a social schedule regularly, and I'm sure that your relatives will be wanting to show you off to their friends. Now, go down to your main rooms and freshen up, then come to the sitting room to talk with your grandmothers and aunt, they have been up very early making sure that everything is perfect for your arrival." Thomas commanded, turning back to the stairs. Before he descended, he gave one last instruction. "Young man, if I so much as catch a whisper that you have been in Lady Kitiara's room for no matter what reason, I will personally kick you out of this house. Have I made myself clear?"

"Yes Sir." Tristan said, rather uncomfortable with the thought of what the butler might do, and how threatening he had sounded. Thomas nodded, and then went down the stairs. "Well, I think we should do as we have been told!" he said to me, and followed the man down the stairs to the preceding level.

Lugging my bags into my room, I took a look around, to check out where I would be living for the next couple of months. My room did indeed accommodate the tower, which I was quite excited about! The rounded walls were encompassed in windows, with stain glass over top of each pain. The picture in the glass was a scene that stretched over the entire thing. The colorful glass depicted an army of dragons fighting an army of men at the foot of a mountain, and halfway up, there was a cave. Inside the cave was a young maiden with long brown hair in a beautiful dress, hands tied to a chain and hook stuck in the cave wall. At the mouth of the cave was a single dragon, facing a lone knight, trying to save the distressed maiden. The scene reminded Kit of all the stories of King Arthur and his knight of the round table going off to fight dragons and save damsels in distress. Underneath the windows was a wide cushioned bench that ran in a curve to match the wall, a nice window seat, with arm rests protruding from the bench, creating three equal segments.

My bed was pushed up against the wall which was the same wall that the stairs were touching as well. It was a queen size bed with a deep red quilt and dark gold colored pillows. There was a burrow on the wall that made a corner with the wall the bed was on, and the end of the curved wall. Across from the bed was a small bathroom with an old fashioned bath tub, toilet, and sink, all made of marble. The walls in the room were a dark midnight blue color, with dark gold trim around the base boards and around the ceiling. I noticed that in the corner of the room next to the burrow, the wall protruded in a box like shape, just sticking out in the middle of the room. Assuming it was for the pipes, I ignored it.

"Nice room." Tristan said from the doorway behind me. Startled, I spun around to face him.

"You shouldn't be in here. Thomas might kick you out." I said sarcastically.

"Oh please, I'm in your doorway, not your room." he responded.

"How is your room?"

"Well, since they didn't know I was coming, I'll have to clean it up a bit. I've already moved a few boxes containing junk and thinks they wanted to save; it looks about the same as yours, just without the tower. My bed is smaller as well, only a double, but I could care less really. The colors are different, but not much. Instead of blue, my walls are dark forest green, instead of gold, I have silver, and instead of red, I have blue."

"Sounds nice, but if you don't mind, I haven't finished unpacking."

"Yeah, I should probably do the same. See ya at dinner, err, supper?" Tristan asked.

Rolling my eyes, I nodded.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Walking down the stairs, I went into the sitting room where I heard some women talking. Upon entering the room, I was immediately bombarded by older women asking me questions and looking me over. "Where did you say she was from again Sophia?" one lady asked, pushing me around in a circle so that she could get a good look at me without having to move much.

"She is from America; Washington D.C. to be exact." my Aunt Sophia responded.

"She has gorgeous green eyes!" another lady said from her chair.

"How old did you say she was Nana?" another lady asked, staring at me like a hawk looks at its next prey.

"Kitiara is seventeen." Nana said.

"Ladies, let the poor girl sit! She literally just got here, so she is probably exhausted!" Grams said, leaping to my rescue. Well, not literally leaping, but you know what I mean.

"Ladies, may I introduce to you my granddaughter, Kitiara Magdalene Crossley." Grams said, once I was able to find a seat on one of the not-so-comfy couches. "Dear, would you like something to eat or drink? I didn't know if you have had lunch yet, so I had Linda whip up something for you." she said, looking around for her maid. "Now where has she gotten off to now? Excuse me ladies."

"I'm okay Grams, but you might want to ask Tristan, he seems to like to eat." I said, chuckling under my breath.

"Who is this Tristan I keep hearing about?" asked the lady who had commented on my eyes. "Is he your suitor Kitiara?"

"Oh, light no! He is my bodyguard!" I cried in disgust.

"Are you ladies talking about me?" Tristan asked, walking into the room. "My name is Tristan Alexander, and yes, I am what she says."

"Why in the world do you need a bodyguard?" the lady who has asked how old I was asked. "Is America really that unstable? Maybe you should just move here permanently if it is that unsafe for young girls."

"Oh, light no!" I said again. "The only reason why I need a bodyguard is because, one, my parents are mentally insane, and two, because my father is a senator in congress. My brother, Nathanial would have had one as well, but he is a boy, and can get away with it."

"Still, is it really that unsafe, even for a figure head and his family?" asked the lady who had asked where I was from.

"Well, they are afraid of terrorists, and think that if one can get a hand on even a senator's daughter, they would put a ransom on me, then that could effect how they would make decisions for our country concerning whether or not to pass certain bills. It is a precaution, but so far, nothing has happened, and I'm not anticipating on it ever going to happen." I said. "Pardon me for being rude, but I have no idea who any of you are."

"Oh, that is my fault Kitiara." Nana said ashamedly. "This is Lady Alice." she said, indicating the lady who had asked where I was from. "This is Duchess Walters." She pointed to the lady who had asked how old I was. "This is Lady Porter." she said, pointing to the lady who had commented on my eyes. "This is Countess Elliot; this is Lady Wellington; this is Duchess Alcott, and this is Lady Annette." she said, pointing to the only women who hadn't commented when I walked in. In order, they were all: old, older, young, younger, old, oldest, and middle aged; as best I could tell anyways. "Oh, Lady Annette works at the Palace! She is a councilor for the Queen, and her daughter, who is about your age, helps train horses. A rather unsuitable job for someone of her status, but nobody can make her stop." Nana finished.

"Really! Does she ever get to see Prince William?" I asked excitedly.

"Oh brother." Tristan mumbled from where he was seated next to me, the only seat that had not been taken previously.

"Quite regularly actually. You know, I think that the two of you would get alone quite nicely! I think I'll arrange for you to come over to meet her." Lady Annette said, smiling at my hopeful face.

"Even if you do get to go to the palace, you won't be able to meet the prince." Tristan said, spoiling my little day dream that I had been having of "accidentally" running into Prince William, and spraining my ankle so that he had to carry me back to the palace.

"Party pooper." I whispered under my breath so that only he could here. To Lady Annette, I said, "I would love to meet your daughter! You will have to arrange with my Grams when I may come over though, because I think she is the one in charge of my schedule while I'm staying in London."

"Oh I think we can work something out." Grams said smiling.

"Kitiara, what do you do in the states? For fun I mean?" Duchess Elliot asked. "When I visited a couple years ago, I found it to be quite boring. There was simply nothing to do!"

"Well, it really depends on where you are, and what you consider fun. Where did you go while you were in the U.S.?" I asked.

"Saint Louise Missouri, Hampton Virginia, and Topeka Kansas. I have family friends in all of those cities. What I would consider to be fun would be to go to some plays, maybe take a ride in a park on a carriage, and sail around a harbor on a nice yacht."

"Um, those are hardly cities; more like towns. Saint Louise is large, larger than the others, but I agree, there is nothing to do there. My friends and I have nicknamed it the state of misery because of that fact. If you wanted to do any of those things, my suggestion would be to go to New York City. They have the best Broadway productions, a huge park with horse drawn carriages, and a large harbor with some nice sized boats. Or you could have gone to Miami Florida, Washington D.C., or Las Angeles California."

"Well, I guess I'll just have to go again and have you as a tour guide!" Countess Elliot joked. All of the ladies laughed at her little joke, and Tristan chuckled, because he knew that the only reason why I knew all of that was because it was common knowledge to anyone who is a U.S. citizen.

"Supper will be ready in an hour ma'am." Thomas said from the parlor door.

"Thank you Thomas." Nana said to her butler. "Kitiara, you should go freshen up."

"Yes ma'am." I said, leaving the room. Once upstairs again, we went to our separate rooms. A while later, Tristan came and stood in my doorway again. "Um, I have absolutely no idea what is considered proper attire for supper over hear." Rolling my eyes, I got up from the vanity and followed him into his room. Looking into his closet where all his clothes were neatly hung up; I started to go through his shirts, then pants, picking out kaki pants and a light blue button up shirt with medium blue and a light gold criss-cross pattern. "How's this?" I asked, turning around and holding up the clothes I had picked out.

"Perfect, thanks." Tristan said. Just then, we herd someone clear their throat from the doorway. "Oh, hey Thomas. Is supper ready?"

"Yes, it is. Helping your male companion pick out his wardrobe Miss Crossley?" Thomas said in his dry voice.

"He didn't know what to wear, so yes. I'll be going back to my room now. Thank you for letting us know about supper. We will be down in a second." I said, running out of Tristan's room and back into my own.

Five minutes later, I walked down the stairs into the dinning room. Nana and Grams were each seated at opposite ends of the table, Aunt Sophia on the far side with an empty chair next to her, with Tristan seated across from her, leaving an open chair next to him as well. Starting to walk over to Aunt Sophia, I was brushed aside by a young man, who went to her side, kissed her cheek, whispered something in her ear, and sat down next to her. Shrugging, I sat next to Tristan, a little annoyed that I was left to choice in where to sit.

"Well, now that everyone is here, let's begin!" Nana said, as food started to come out of the kitchens on platters carried by maids. _Whoa! I knew that they had servants, but I didn't know how many! Well, not like three maids and a butler is many, but more than we have in D.C., that's for sure!_ I thought to myself. After food was on the table, Nana told everyone that we could begin eating; a more proper way for saying 'dig in' I guess.

"I'm sorry I was late, I got caught up at school." the man who had taken my seat said.

"Don't worry about it dear, you were right on time." Aunt Sophia said, patting his hand. _Who is this guy? Is he my new uncle or something? He's a little young!_ I thought, staring anywhere than at this strange man.

"Sophia, I don't believe that the children have met before!" Grams said. "Kitiara, I would like you to meet your cousin Michael! Michael, this is your cousin Kitiara, she is the one from America."

"Pleased to meet you." Michael and I said at the same time. "So, um, how do you like England so far?" Michael asked.

"It's nice enough I guess, but all I've seen so far is this house, with the exception of the view on the ride here from the airport." I said.

"Maybe I could take you out clubbing later! That way you could meet some actual

people instead of being cooped up in here with a bunch of women knitting all afternoon."

"That would be great! Um, I'm only seventeen though. Can I still go?" I asked.

"No you cannot." Tristan cut in.

"Hey! You are not my guardian! You can't tell me what to do." I said glaring at him.

"Actually, I am your guardian." he said, putting extra emphasis on the word guard. Rolling my eyes, I went back to eating my food, which wasn't exactly what I'm used to. Supper consisted of veil lamb with cabbage and squash.

"I think it's a great idea!" Aunt Sophia jumped in to help my cause. Kudos for her! "This is a great opportunity for the two of you to meet some young people your ages! Michael, would you mind taking them out after dinner? I'm sure they could use some fresh air after that long flight and being stuck here all day."

"Are you up to it Kitiara?" Michael asked me.

"Are you kidding? Oh, and call me Kit. You can definitely count me in."

"Great! Oh, who's your friend? Did he come with you, or did you pick him up along the way?"

"Oh please. I had to bring him with me." I replied. "My parents wanted to make sure that I'd be safe, so they made me bring my own personal body guard."

"That's cool I guess. I'm Michael." he said, extending his hand across the table.

"Tristan." Tristan said, taking it and shook hands. "Okay, we can go, but only if we are back before midnight. Your parents will kill me if they find out about this!"

"Oh please, they sent me here for this reason! To have fun!" I said laughing, though it sounded a little forced to me.

During supper, I found out that Michael attended Oxford, and was taking summer courses so that he could graduate early. He seems to be a pretty cool guy, for a twenty year old. After dinner, I ran up to my room to put on something more comfortable to hang out in. Running back down stairs, I saw that Tristan had also changed, and both boys were waiting for me by the door. "Bye Grams! I'll see you tomorrow! Thanks Aunt Sophia, you're the best! Night Nana!" I called out.

"Have fun kids!" Aunt Sophia said as the door was closing behind us.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Pulling up to the curb, I hopped out of the limo. "Where are we?" I asked, forgetting that I probably wouldn't know where we were even if I was told.

"We are in the middle of London, where all the best clubs are. The one that I'm going to take you too only admits special people, so you are going to meet some of the best people in the county." Michael said, starting to walk down the street. I had to jog to catch up to him because he was walking so fast. Turning down a side street, we stopped at a door in the side of a building.

"Password." the bouncer said as we walked up to him.

"Jester." Michael told the very big, very tough looking man. The bouncer opened the door for him, but tried to stop Tristan. I guess he was assuming I was with Michael. "He's with us, you can let him in." The bouncer glared at Tristan, then shrugged letting him pass.

"So, what was with that password?" Tristan asked.

"In the old days, there would be a jester in every royal court to entertain the royal family and any nobility that came to court. The jester was full of jokes and pranks and stories to make people laugh. He is the symbol have having a good time, like this club. It is a place of fun." Michael replied.

Five steps in from the door, we were presented with the option of walking up a set of stairs, or down a set of stairs. It sounded like music was coming from both up and down, but the downstairs was much louder. "Which way do we go?" I asked confused.

"Either way really." Michael said. "The club owns the whole building. Going down will take you to the dancing room. Basically, there is either a DJ or a live band playing, and you dance and have fun. Upstairs is the lounge. Come on, I'll show you!"

Walking up the steps, we came to a large room. Against the left wall, there were about twenty computers where young adults were talking to friends on-line. Against the right wall were about twenty gaming systems such as play station, play station two, Nintendo 64, and X-box, where more young adults were playing games. On the back wall was a video screen with a projector. There was just enough room behind the screen for a person to squeeze behind it without bumping into the screen and moving it. Michael walked over and being the screen, motioning for us to follow. It turned out that there was another room back there, but this one was much smaller. The lights were all black lights, making my purple shirt and my sneakers glow. On all of the walls, there were windows where people could look down on the dancers in the dancing room, or just listen to the music. It was not as loud because the glass muffled the noise, but you could still hear with no problems. From what I could see, the dancing room had a raised stage where there was a band, or where a DJ could set up his stuff. On another wall was a bar with stools, where one could get a soda and/or food. On either side of the door in the corners of the room, there were several couches set up so that people could take a break from dancing, chat with friends, or enjoy their refreshments.

"This is quite a place!" I said in awe.

"I agree. Who are all these people?" Tristan asked.

"Most of them are the sons and daughters of lords and ladies, dukes and duchesses, counts and countesses, earls, chancellors, you get the gist. Others or just rich,

with no nobility in their blood, but somewhere through their family history, one of their ancestors came into some money; normally fairly recently." Michael replied.

"How old are most of these people?" I asked. "None of them are really old, but none are terribly young either."

"In order to be allowed in, you have to be at least sixteen; old enough to be responsible for what happens while you are here. The oldest you can be is twenty-four. By that point, most are graduated from college, so they can find a more mature club to go to."

"Michael, is that you?" a boy said from the entrance.

"West?" Michael asked, shielding his eyes from the bright lights behind the boy.

"Yeah! What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be on a date tonight." West said, walking over to us.

"Yeah, well, my cousin flew in so I had to go have dinner with my family instead."

"Pity, you have a hot girl man. Is one of them your cousin?" he asked, indicating Tristan and myself.

"West, I'd like you to meet my cousin Kitiara, or Kit as she prefers, and her friend Tristan. Kit, Tristan, this is my best friend Weston, but he normally goes by West." Michael said, giving us all introductions.

"Well, it is my pleasure to meet you lady Kit! And your friend, Tristan?" West said, taking my hand and kissing it, then shaking Tristan's.

"Pleased to meet you, West." I said, blushing at his action. From what I could tell in the black lights, West was about six feet tall, had sandy brown hair that fell to his shoulders like Sean in Boy Meets World, one of my favorite TV shows back home.

"How do you do." Tristan said.

"Oh, there's Lily! I'll catch you guys later. I'm going to dance with my girlfriend if you need me." Michael said, rushing down to the dance room.

"Well, I guess I'll go get something real to eat." Tristan said.

"Yeah, sure." I told him confused. He never leaves me alone, so I though he might have another reason for leaving than just food.

"Is he always that stiff?" West asked from beside me. Startled because I had forgotten he was there temporarily, I nodded. "So, where are you from?"

"Washing…America." I told him, leaning against the window sill. "I'm visiting for the summer."

"I have family in the states. Where about?"

"Washington D.C. It's pretty nice there if you like lots of rain and a little snow."

"Sounds like here." West said laughing. "Would you like something to drink?"

"Um, thanks, I'd love one."

"What do you want? Is coke alright with you?" I nodded my head, smiling at his generosity and kindness.

Turning around, I looked out the window and watched all the people dancing. There were of course other people in the room that I was in, but most were out in either the lounge or the dance room. Looking at the bar, I spotted Tristan talking to a pretty red head. _Just as I thought, a pretty girl to keep you occupied._ Roaming the dance floor, I spotted West making his way over to the bar, occasionally stopping to say hi to some

friends. Over at the couches, I spotted Michael and whom I'm assuming was Lily sitting down with drinks in their hands.

All of a sudden, the room started spinning, but all I could see were flashes of color coming from all directions, forming into a picture. As the picture focused, I saw that it was a room with lots of dust and boxes. The picture moved to a set of spirals steps leading down. At the bottom of the steps was a small door, and beyond the door was a room, but the room was too dark to see anything clearly other than black shapes. Then everything started to spin again, and all the colors seemed to be dispersing back to wherever they had come from. I was suddenly aware that someone was shaking my shoulders and calling my name.

"Kit, are you alright? Kit, can you hear me? Kit!" The voice sounded familiar. It was West! Moaning, I tried to sit up. Opening my eyes, the room started to spin, and my head started to pound, so I quickly closed my eyes and put my hand to my head.

"What happened?" I asked feebly. Then I noticed that I wasn't standing anymore. "Why am I on the floor?"

"Hey, someone get Michael Ellington!" West called out to some of the people in the room.

"I thought you were getting drinks, I saw you at the bar; how did you get up here so fast?" I asked, opening my eyes again. The room stayed where it was thank goodness, but I still had a terrible headache.

"I've been trying to wake you up for about two minutes now." West said, looking worried. "Are you okay? What happened to you?" he asked.

"I believe I asked you that one already." I said, trying to laugh a little, but it ended up making my head hurt worse.

"What's up West? Why does my cousin look like she got hit over the head?" Michael asked, rushing over to my side.

"I'm fine, just a headache." I said, trying to get up, but both boys pushed me back on the floor.

"I think she passed out Mike. I went down to get us some cokes, and when I came back up, someone was saying that some girl collapsed onto the floor in the black room (what the room with the black lights and dance floor overlook is called.). Walking in, I saw that it was Kit." West explained.

"I think we better go home. Kit, you can meet people tomorrow. I think you are just exhausted from your long flight." Michael said.

"And the fact that she was almost run over today by a car at the airport." Tristan said, walking into the room. "What happened?" he asked, noticing that I was not standing, then also came rushing to my side.

"I told you, I'm fine!" I said, again trying to get up, but had three sets of hands pushing me down this time.

"You should stay here and rest. I'll go get the car." Michael said. Walking over to the entrance, he whispered something to West, and then disappeared out of sight.

"I knew this would be a bad idea. Why don't you listen to me?" Tristan fussed, ignoring Michael and West.

"Hmm, did you say something?" I asked.

"Kit, I'm not kidding! You could have gotten a concussion or something!"

"Tristan, you're not my baby sitter! I'm fine! Must I keep repeating myself?" I protested, once again trying to get up, got pushed down, then pushed Tristan aside and stood. Once up, I wobbled a bit, but West caught and steadied me while Tristan got up.

"Let's head down to the street." West suggested. Once we made it down, we saw that Michael had been able to find the limo, and was waiting outside for us. With the three young men surrounding me like they were, you would have thought that they expected me to keel over any moment again, and all were ready to catch me. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you though. I appreciate it." I said smiling from inside the limo.

"Hey, why don't you ride with us? I can drop you off at your place after we get Kit home." Michael suggested.

"That'd be great. Let me run back inside and get my jacket." West said. A minute later, he came back out wearing a brown leather jacket over his black T-shirt and jeans. _Wow, he looks like Danny Russo from Grease, just without the greased hair and leather pants!_

Once back to Nana, Grams, and Aunt Sophia's house, we all got out of the limo and walked up to the front door. "Michael, I didn't see a room for you in the house. Where are you going to sleep?" I asked.

"Oh, I have a flat down town. I just eat and do my laundry here." Michael said laughing. "Now you're sure your okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Thanks for taking us out. I promise, it won't happen again." I said smiling. "West, it was a pleasure to meet you."

"I'm sure that we will be seeing each other more often, if you don't have a problem with that." West said smiling as well.

"I would, though you might have to find a nice red head for Tristan to hang out with." At the mention of a red head, Tristan's face went bright red. He mumbled a quick good night, and then ducked into the house. Michael, West and I shared a good laugh at that.

"I'll see you tomorrow, now go get some rest!" Michael ordered.

"Yes sir!" I teased. "Good night."

"Good night." they both said at the same time.

Walking up to my room, I went to my dresser without turning on the lights, put on my night clothes, then turned to hop into my bed, then froze. I recognized those shapes!


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Frozen, I tried to recall how I knew those shapes; then it hit me. At the club, when all those colors swirled in my vision, and I saw that picture of a spiral staircase and a room that was too dark to see clearly…that was my room! Turning around quickly, I looked at the wall to see if I could figure out how in the world there could possibly be a spiral staircase in the middle of my room. Immediately, my eyes went to the protruding wall in the corner, which just happened to be now right in front of me almost. I walked over to it, and started feeling the wall to see if there were any creases that I could pry apart in order to get inside. There had to be a way in! The wall had nothing. No cracks or crevasses, no wholes or dents, nothing! I stepped back, and saw that on the side of the protrusion was my dresser. Squeezing between it, I was able to push it away from the wall so that I could inspect that side as well. Again, there was nothing!

I decided to inspect the wall higher up to see if I had missed anything. Nothing on either wall, so I looked lower. Nothing; until I noticed that the baseboard on the wall facing the dresser. S_o, if the baseboards don't touch the floor, then the wall should slide? Let's see…lets look closer to the corner! _Going over to the corner, I ran my hands up and down the wall. _Gotcha! _About three inches away from the corner closest to the wall, I found a crevasse big enough to fit four of my fingers in.

Cramming my fingers into the crevice, I pulled will all my might, but nothing happened. I pushed against the wall, and still nothing happened, thinking that maybe it was a decoy. So, shoving my fingers back in, I put my socked foot up on the wall, and once again pulled with all my might, and very slowly, the wall budged and inch. Shocked, my grip loosened, and I went flying backwards onto my bed. _I didn't think that it would really move, but okay!_ Going back to the wall, I put my hands in the opening between the two walls, and pulled. I figure that this has not been opened for at least a century because of how much I was fighting it; I'm not weak, though some would assume so since I'm a girl. In agonizing slowness, the wall came open inch after inch, until the edge I was holding came level with the corner of the perpendicular wall. There was about three inches of wall left to go before it came off of the hinge, so I didn't have to worry about it totally coming off though.

Staring into the darkness of the opening I had just created, I could make out a structure that reached up into the ceiling. On instinct, I knew that this must be the spiral staircase from whatever it was that had happened to me at the club. Running downstairs, I ran into the kitchen to look for a flashlight so that I could investigate what I had just found. _Okay, in my house, we keep the flashlights in a drawer next to the sink, so, maybe it's the same here?_

Going over to the sink, I rummaged through all the drawers, but found nothing but kitchen supplies. My next thought was to go look under the sink, but found nothing but cleaning supplies. _Those might be good for later, depending on what I find up there, I'll keep those in mind. _Before I could move on to look anywhere else, I felt a hand on my shoulder, and voice call behind me, "Who are you, and what do you want?" Gasping, I whirled around found that it was only Thomas, holding as baseball bat!

"Thomas, what are you doing?" I asked, looking at the bat in his raised hand.

"I could ask you the same. What are you doing out of bed lady Kitiara?" he asked, lowering the bat when he found that it was me. "And what in light's name are you wearing?" he asked, staring me up and down.

"Um, my PJ's?" I said confused. I was too, a pair of PJ pants with a tank top. "I'm looking for a flashlight. I dropped my necklace Mother behind the dresser, and I can't see it with just the bedroom lights on." I said, thinking quickly of a lie that he would believe. He had seen me wearing a necklace when I arrived, but wasn't wearing now, so I figured that he would believe me.

"Here, take mine." he said, handing me the flashlight he had in his hand. "Make sure you return it though. There are others in the basement. Now, get your necklace and get to bed."

"Yes sir."

Back upstairs, I took the flashlight and grabbed my umbrella in case there were any spider webs; which I dearly hate; I started up the spiral stairs. Looking at them, they looked to be made of a black metal with lace like designs carved into each step. Praying that there was no calcite rust or any damage done to the stairs since they were last used, I was really hoping that they would hold me all the way to the top. Finally, after thirty two steps, I reached the top.

Reaching for the door knob, I attempted to turn it, but to my un-surprise, it was locked. _Great, just like in the movies, the hidden door is locked! How typical. _So, hoping that the key was in a normal spot, I felt around on the sides of the door frame and on top of the door frame, hoping that it would be nailed to the frame. Unfortunately, I had no luck; so naturally, I checked the railing and the center pole of the stairs. Again, no luck, so I shinned my light on the steps, hoping that the key might have been tied underneath the step. Still no key though, so I headed back down to my room in utter dismay.

_Well what do you know! It was down here all along! Stupid for not thinking about there being a locked door to begin with! _I chastised myself mentally. There enough, on the back of the hidden door, was the key to the door at the top of the steps. _Thank goodness I had thought to close this door in case someone had tried to come into my room, or else I never would have seen it! _ Grabbing the key, I headed once more to the locked door at the top of the secret spiral stair case. Sticking the key in the lock, I opened the door.

Immediately in front of me was a wall of boxes. So, since the door opened into the room towards the wall, I had no choice but to go left. On both sides of me, all I could see were boxes, though I could tell that there was a wall on my left, so I am assuming that this room was a mirror image of my bedroom one floor below, so I quickly came to another wall of boxes, but I was left an opening to squeeze through on my right. I headed down what was beginning to seem like a street with boxes on both sides of me, just spiraling around the room, one wall after another, but at the end of this wall, the boxes did a U turn instead of continuing along the third wall, which I'm assuming is the wall facing the street. This 'street' led to another heading back to the stairs, but on the other side of the first wall of boxes. _My gosh they have a lot of boxes! Is this ever going to end? _At the end of that 'street' was another heading to the street, but it stopped well short of where I thought my room ended into the tower. Making another U turn back towards the steps, I walked down another passageway of boxes. _Maybe I should turn back…_To my pleasure and my surprise, at the end of this 'street,' the passageways of boxes ended.

Stepping out into the middle of the secret room, I saw that that last passageway did indeed stop short of the tower, because I could see the stain glass shining in the moon light. These pains depicted a medieval wedding of some sort. There was the groom and the bride and the pastor, all standing under the watchful eyes of the crucified Christ, but the congregation was made up of humans, most likely the family of the couple, elves, trolls, giants, fairies or pixies, dragons, and all sorts of magical creatures! All in all, of what I could see in the dim light, it looked gorgeous. Under the window pains was a giant cushioned bench seat similar to the one in my room, but this one took up the entire circle of the tower! The cushion was covered with a white cloth. Upon getting closer, I removed it. Underneath, I could see that the cushion was one giant pillow made out of a blood red silk, but it was incredibly dusty, and some of the buttons holding it together had come loose. On the wall facing the street, which was to the left of the tower, I could make out a huge shape, covered in a white cloth, and in the middle of the room were several more square-like shapes, also covered with white cloths.

Walking over to the larger cloth covered blob, I took the sheet off and found an old, and very large desk. The desk was made of what looked to be Red Wood, but it was hard to tell, especially since it was covered in faded lacquer and gilt and dust. In some of the places, I could see that the dust was in a thinner layer, but there was still a lot of it. The thing was enormous, with four large drawers running down the legs with what looked to be gold pull knobs. The back of the desk had actual cabinets like you would find in a burrow, also with gold pull knobs, and shelves and more drawers, all with those knobs. Knowing I'd come back to look through it, I moved on to the objects in the middle of the cleared part of the room, which wasn't so big after that maze of boxes.

Pulling off the sheet, which actually turned out to be three sheets, I found four chests. _Whoa! These are like real treasure chests!_ These were made of the same wood as the desk, with the same amount of lacquer and gilt, and dust. Each had its own lock on it, each one different from the rest. The corners as well as the locks were made of the same gold like material as the knobs on the desk. _Man, I had no idea that my grandmothers were so rich! These must have been up here for generations! Hey, maybe they don't even know they are up here, maybe they were here from the person who owned this house before them, and they forgot to get them! Cool, I really did find hidden treasure! _I thought, laughing to myself.

Hearing a creak, I stopped dead, not moving a mussel, holding my breath for fear of being heard. "Kit, are you awake?" I heard Tristan half whisper. _Oh good, he's down stairs in my room. Wow, I though someone might have come up here after me! Boy am I glad that I closed the secret door! _"Hey Kit, are you okay? I thought I heard you moving around in here. Where is she? Damn it, I did hear her, I heard her move right out of her room! Great, I'll never find her if she's been gone for too long, I'll just have to wait up for her, and scold her in the morning." I heard him say as he moved back to the door of my room. _Scold me? Who the hell does he think he is, my father? I hardly think so. I'll just have to come up with some way to get him._

Walking out of the room, through the maze of boxes, down the spiral stairs, and through the secret door, I thought of ways to let Tristan know who really was in charge. Hopping into my bed and snuggling into the pillows under the covers, I smiled as I drifted off to sleep._ I think that this vacation is going to be fun after all!_


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"Oof! What the…"

"Get up Kit." I heart Tristan say. Groaning, I rolled over so that I wouldn't get hit in the face with another pillow, which put my back to the door. "Get up Kit, or I'll through another pillow." Tristan threatened.

"Go away Tristan, I stayed up late last night. And anyways, it's not even light yet; the sun is still asleep, so I should be as well." I grumbled.

"Your room has thick curtains smarty. It's one p.m., so the sun is definitely up, and has been up without you for quite some time now. And I know that you were up late last night, because I heard you leave your room and go back to the club!" Tristan huffed, throwing another pillow at me, but hitting the back of my head this time, and then another, hitting my butt.

"Okay, okay, I'm up! I said sitting up in my bed, turning around and glaring at him. "I know you came in here last night because I heard you, you idiot! And for your information, I was not at the club, I was wondering around checking the place out, because, first of all, it creeps me out to be in a place that I don't know, so I went exploring. Second, I did this at night because I couldn't sleep because I'm home sick because I have never been allowed away from my parents for more than a weekend retreat with my school, and that was always a few hours away by car! I have never been over seas before, never even out of D.C.! When my father goes campaigning for his elections for senator, my mom orders me to stay home with my brother and Lucy, and when my brother got older, he went with them, so I stayed home by myself with just Lucy and my body guard. When they go away, one or the other of them, usually my mom, is always back within two days to check on me, so I have never gone more than two days without seeing my parents ever since I was born. That is why I was not in my room when you came in, which, by the way, you are not allowed to do! Am I correct Thomas?" I said, finishing my tirade. All of that was true about my never being away from my parents, but the part about me actually missing them wasn't entirely truthful. Yes, I miss them, but hey, I'm not a little girl, I'm not homesick; yet.

"You are entirely correct Miss. Young man, if I ever catch you in this room, ever again, I will do as I said I would do, and will personally kick you out of this house. Do I make myself clear; again?" Thomas said from behind Tristan, who had been smirking, thinking that I was only kidding about Thomas being there. When he heard Thomas speak however, he jumped about a foot in the air, spinning around to face him, and gasping in shock. All in all, he looked incredibly hilarious! "Miss, I was told by your Aunt Sophia that you are to get up and dressed for Dinner. She is expecting you downstairs in the parlor in twenty minutes. If you would like, I will tell her thirty so that you have enough time to shower. Shall I do so?"

"Oh, that would be fantastic, thank you Thomas. Thirty minutes will be perfect." I said, giving him a smile that made Tristan glare at me.

"You, be ready in thirty minutes? I hardly think so. I'd tell your Aunt an hour if I were you. And seriously, you were not in this house, I looked, so obviously you are lying. We'll talk about this later, you can count on it."

"I'll be ready in thirty minutes Thomas. And if you would, please made sure that Tristan does not get invited to lun-dinner?" I asked.

"Absolutely Miss, anything you say." Thomas said, giving me a slight nod. _Okay, what has gotten into him? He was acting very rudely to me yesterday, so why the change into Mr. Nice Guy all of a sudden? Whatever, I could make some use of this. _Hopping out of bed, I closed the door and ran into my bathroom and took a very quick shower. Hopping back out of the shower, I dried off, put on a little bit of makeup, foundation, blush and eye liner, and then pulled on a pair of hip-hugging jeans with bling on the butt. I also threw on a black top with a deep V-neck with white flowers embroidered around the collar. The neck line was so low that I had to put a wife beater on underneath.

Running out of my room and down the stairs, I dashed into the front parlor which was underneath of my room. As I had expected, my Aunt Sophia was sitting on one of the duvets with a cup of what I'm assuming was tea. To my surprise, Michael was sitting beside her, also with a cup of tea. "Sorry it took me so long, I had trouble figuring out how to work the shower head. Surprisingly, they are very different than the ones we use in the United States." I said apologetically as I skidded into the room.

"Oh, no rush dear. I'm just glad that we were able to get you out of your bed! Michael told me about what happened last night at the club, and I've come to the conclusion that it probably wasn't a good idea for you to go out late on your first night here, so I let you sleep in a little." Aunt Sophia said, smiling into her cup. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm ready for dinner! Michael, would you be a dear and see if the car is out front still?"

"Of course, mother." Michael said as he got up and walked to the front door. "Yes, it's still there. Shall we go?"

"We are going somewhere?" I asked. "I thought we were having lunch, I mean dinner, here."

"Don't be silly! I want to show you the sites! Let you get a feel for London in the daytime while you aren't fighting the airport traffic. Come now, let's get a move on." Aunt Sophia said, hustling us out the door. "Oh, while we are out, I want to take you to a few shops. You need some English clothing in your wardrobe. And a coat I think, since you seem to have left yours back home in the U.S. No bother, we can fix you right up!"

"Mother, don't over do it on the first day now. You need to leave her with some things to do the rest of the summer. She isn't just visiting for a week, remember?" Michael chimed in, climbing into the car after us. All I could do was grin though, because this was already starting out to be a wonderful day.

As the car pulled up to the curb beside a sidewalk café, I saw a man run from the door to the car. When we stopped, he opened our door and helped Aunt Sophia and I out of the car! I felt very important. "Ah, Lady Sophia, we have been expecting you! Welcome to Quake, the finest sidewalk café in all of London. My name is Andrew, I am the manager here, so if you need anything, please, don't hesitate to ask for me, and I will come running."

"Thank you Andrew, but I think that we will be just fine. I have eaten here once before with my mother, but that was a long time ago. I look forwards to tasting your exquisite food once more." Aunt Sophia told the man.

"Ah yes, I have heard about your mother, and your grandmother. Terrible what happened really. Ah, and who are these young people behind you? Are they yours?"

"Well, technically, yes. This is my son Michael, and my niece, Kitiara. She is visiting for the summer from America, so I thought I would take her to all my favorite places from when I was her age. Now, may we find our table please?"

"Oh, yes of course, how rude of me! Please, follow me."

_Huh, does she always talk this much? He seems really nice and all, but she doesn't have to tell him everything! I wonder what he meant when he said 'terrible thing that happened.' Oh well, I guess I'll just have to find out later. Man, I'm dying to know what is in all those boxes! I'll just have to go back up tonight and do a little cleaning. Note to self: wear old clothes, sneakers, and a dust mask so I don't choke on all that dust!_

"Kit, come back from la-la-land." Michael whispered in my ear. "That guy just asked you where in the U.S. you are from."

"Oh, sorry, my mind was wondering." I apologized. "I'm from D.C. My father in a senator, so naturally, that is where I live."

"Ah, the capital of the free world. I would love to go there some day, but I have not the money to go and to keep my job and home here. You are a very lucky young lady, lady Kitiara. Here we are; your private table." Andrew said, pointing to a table way in the back with a curtain that could be drawn around it.

"Oh, Andrew, I hate to bother you, but the table is lovely and all, but could we get one a little less secluded?" Aunt Sophia asked, ever so sweetly.

"Oh, yes of course, how silly of me. I assumed that such a figure head as yourself would want to have privacy. This way then."

_Okay, now my curiosity is really up. What does he mean 'figure head?' I'm going to burst if I don't find out by the end of the day!_ "Hey, Aunt Sophia, what is he talking about?"

"Keep your voice low!" Michael whispered in my ear. "There are a lot of things that you don't know, because your mother didn't have the heart to tell you. I'll tell you later, but you have to promise not to ask my mother, or anyone else. And if you absolutely have to, don't ask so that the whole world can hear you."

"Hey, what's your problem? I was just curios! I'm a girl, that's what I am." I replied tartly.

"Like I said, I'll tell you later." He told me, as he straitened and put a smile on his face when Aunt Sophia turned around to see what we were doing.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Lunch really was fabulous, just like Aunt Sophia had said it was. After it was all paid for, Aunt Sophia led us down the street to where the car was parked, but instead of getting in, she told the driver to meet us at the gate, whatever that was, at nine o'clock, and that until then he had the day off. "Well, come along, we have lots to do!" she said, strolling off down the street again to who knows where.

About three blocks away, we turned left, and we were confronted with signs of about sixty different shops stretched out over the next four or five blocks. Any and all of my friends back home would have died for this! An outdoor shopping mall in London! Way cool! "So, what do we need to get first…I think we should start at the top and work our way down." Aunt Sophia said, eyeing me like a hawk does her prey, which made me squirm a little in discomfort. "How about we start at Black and White. Michael, you have the option of sticking with us girls, or wandering around doing whatever you need, but I think that we need a guys' opinion. Fashion these days is based way too heavily on what guys are thinking."

"You mean that we are buying me cloths? Like a new wardrobe?" I asked in surprise.

"Didn't I tell you that earlier? Yes, you need English clothing. Your American style cloths are nice and all dear, but if you want to fit in, you have to dress like us!"

"I'll stay with you. I don't really need anything at the moment, but if I think of something, I might slip out for a few minutes. Plus, if I let you out of my site mother, you will have spent all of our money, just on my cousin!"

"Well, we can't have that now can we? Okay then, let's get too it! This way dears!" Aunt Sophia said, once again leaving us to follow her. By five o'clock, I had ten new shirts, fifteen new pants, five new skirts, four new dresses, three pairs of stockings, four pairs of bras, ten pairs of underwear, a nightgown and a bed cloak which I'll never wear and four new coats! Needless to say, we were all carrying a lot of bags. "Okay, time for supper! Now, where can we eat that is close? I know, we can go to Mickey D's!"

"What's that?" I asked.

"You have never been to Mickie D's? I thought you Americans had everything over there!" someone said from behind us. Turning around, and almost dropping my bags, I saw that it was West, the guy I met at the club last night.

"Hey West, what are you doing this side of town? I thought you hated shopping!" Michael said, as shocked as I was that he was there.

"Yeah, I do, but my mother's birthday is tomorrow, and my father is making me pick something out for both of us to give to her. I'm so glad I have a sister man, because she's in the store right now doing just that! Hello Lady Sophia, how nice to see you again!" West said, giving her a small bow. Okay, I'm really confused now! What the heck is going on?

"Nice to see you too Westley. How is your mother doing? I heard she has become quite ill!"

"Yes ma'am, that is why my father is making me do the shopping, he doesn't want to leave her side. We think that it might be pneumonia, but we can't be certain until the lab results come back."

"Well then, go get your sister, and I'll treat you to supper." Aunt Sophia told him.

"Oh, you don't have to do that; we can get supper back home."

"I insist. Now hurry up, we don't have all night."

"Yes ma'am, be back in a flash."

Three minutes later, we saw West and a girl I'm assuming was his sister come running up the street towards us. "We passed a Mickey D's on the way back here, and if we hurry we can get there before a line appears." West said.

"Well then, let's get a move on! Nice to see you again Olivia. Terribly sorry about your mother." Aunt Sophia said as we started to walk down the street.

"Nice to see you again too Lady Sophia. It is a terrible thing, but everyone gets sick at some time in their lives. I just hope that mother gets better!" Olivia replied.

"We all do dear, we all do."

"Hey Kit, those bags look heavy, mind if I take some off your load?" West asked me as we walked.

"Oh, I'm okay, really. They are just clothes." I told him, smiling at his offer though.

"What did you get? Knowing your Aunt, she probably forced some things on you that you don't even need, or won't wear probably." West said smiling, and taking some of my bags anyways.

"Thanks, I guess I didn't know how heavy cloths were." I said, suddenly feeling like my arms were feathers instead of bricks. "And yes, I got practically everything except for accessories! Honestly, I think she is going to have to buy me three new suitcases so that I can get all of this home!" I said, and we both laughed.

"Oh, don't worry about that dear, suitcases and accessories come after supper!" Aunt Sophia chimed in.

"Wow, you really know how to shop! Any of my friends at home would die to have a mother like you, or even an aunt!" I said, and all five of us laughed.

"Here we are, Mickey D's. I really can't believe that you don't have at least one of these back in the states." West said as we turned a corner.

"Oh, McDonalds! Of course have these! Heck, we have at least ten thousand of them! I've never heard the word Mickey D's before, and I never pictured my Aunt as the type to like fast food, so I never put two and two together." I said, sounding very stupid.

After dinner, Aunt Sophia was as good as her word because as soon as everything was paid for, she hustled us out the door and me into more shops. This time, I got four different hats, three different pairs of sunglasses, eight pairs of shoes; which Olivia was going pop-eyed over so Aunt Sophia bought her a pair as well; six different necklaces, five different bracelets, three different rings, four different pairs of earrings, five different belts, and four different purses. She tried to go for six, but I reasoned her down to four. After that, she took me to get new make-up! She said that it didn't look like I wore anything at all except for eyeliner, so Olivia and Aunt Sophia hired a lady to do my makeup at one of those makeup counters, then bought everything that she recommended, which included foundation, blush, three different sets of eye shadow, eyeliner, mascara, lip gloss, toner, make-up remover, and a special soap to wash my face with! Also, she did in fact buy me three suitcases to get all of my things home. Needless to say, all five of us were carrying our share of bags. But of course, I cheated and put some inside of the suitcases and wheeled them instead of carrying bags.

"Well, that was the most fun I've had in years! I do wish that I had a daughter to do all of this with, but my son refuses to indulge in his feminine side, so I don't get to shop like this ever!" Aunt Sophia said after we had come out of the last store.

"Aunt Sophia, I really don't need all of this!" I told her for the eightieth time.

"Nonsense! Do you like all of the things that we bought you?" I nodded my head. "Then you need them! It's as simple as that, so I don't want to hear any more about it. Now, who is up for ice cream? I think that I know where we can get some home made ice cream if anyone is up for it!

As expected, no one refused home made ice cream, so we all started off towards the gates, whatever that was, since it was almost nine o'clock. As we turned a corner, I got a glimpse of a bunch of men in red uniforms walking around in a courtyard, and to my astonishment, the gate turned out to be the front gate to the Buckingham Palace, and what I was seeing was the changing of the guards for the night shift! "Right on time." Aunt Sophia said softly next to me.

"You mean you did this on purpose, just so that I could see them?" I asked.

"No, well, yes, but also, here come the car. Okay now, everyone hop in, and don't get lost in the confusion of the guards! They may not show any emotion at all, but they don't take kindly to getting out of order when they are doing this exercise. Dashing to the car, we all hopped in, and pushed all of my bags to the front. Thankfully, this was a limo, just not a stretch limo, so there was plenty of room for all of us, plus my enormous amount of bags. Looking out the window so that I could watch the guards march around the courtyard, I was shocked when I saw that we were entering the gates, and not heading away from them!

"Aunt Sophia, I thought you said we were going back to the house. We are going the wrong way."

"No dear, I said I knew where we can get home made ice cream. Where we are going is inside the palace so that you can meet some of your other cousins." Aunt Sophia replied.

"I have other cousins? I thought that you were the only sibling my mother had. Wait, other cousins as in royal cousins? Cool!" I exclaimed. Everyone laughed at my enthusiasm.

"I am the only sibling your mother has Kit." Aunt Sophia said laughing. "But you have more than just one cousin on this side of the family. Michael is only your first cousin. You have second cousins once removed, third cousins, and even a third cousin once removed who was just born! Your third cousins are the ones that live in the palace."

"You mean to say that I'm related to Prince William?" I squealed in delight. Again, everyone laughed.

"Yes, and his brother, Prince Charles. William just got married and had a baby boy named Scott, so you might get to meet him as well. I guess you look alright right now since we are only having ice cream, but next time we come, I need you to dress in one of the new outfits that we bought today, so you look a little less American, and a little more like the English young lady that you are."

"Okay, wait, I'm a little confused. If I'm related to Prince William and Prince Charles, how is that possible?"

"You and Michael are first cousins because I and your mother are sisters. Grams is our mother, and Nana is her mother. Nana has a sister who is no longer living because she was killed, but just before she was killed, she had a daughter who was Grams' first cousin. She was also killed, but she also had a daughter, who is my and your mother's second cousin. She is the ruling queen, Queen Elizabeth, and she has two sons, William and Charles, who are your third cousins, along with being Michael's third cousins." Aunt Sophia explained, quite reasonably as if she did this every day to some fool walking around the streets. "I'm done talking about this. Okay, everyone out of the car!"

"Hey Michael, I have a question." I told him.

"Later, I said I'd tell you later." he replied.

Walking up the steps to the front door, I suddenly felt incredibly nervous. Okay, I love being on stage, singing and acting and playing the guitar and all, but my gosh, I've never met any member of a royal family! When the huge double front doors opened, I seriously thought I my stomach was going to burst of all the butterflies! The entrance hall was humongous, all made of sparkling marble. There were two staircases on either side of the hall, both going up to a balcony with a passageway underneath of it in-between the stairs. There was a man in a black suit standing at the top of the balcony and when he saw us walk in he said in a loud, carrying voice, "Announcing her Royal Highness, Queen Elizabeth, Queen of England, and her sons, Prince Charles, Crown Prince William and his wife Princess Caroline, and their son Prince Scott."

Aunt Sophia stopped when the announcements had begun, and now that they were over, she made a very deep curtsy, and stayed that way. Looking around me, I noticed that Michael, West, and Olivia were also in curtsies or bows, and staying that way, so I did the only reasonable thing to do, I mimicked them, but I kept my head tilted slightly up so that I could watch the procession walk down the stairs. When they had all reached the bottom, Queen Elizabeth said, "You may rise."

"You're Majesty, how nice to see you again!" Aunt Sophia said after standing up strait again.

"Ah, Sophia darling! It is such a pleasure to have you here again! I see you have brought your son again; I know that my boys do enjoy his company. I do not believe that I have had the pleasure of meeting your other companions though."

"Well, this fine young gentleman to the left of my son is Westley Prescott, the son of the Duke and Duchess Prescott." When Aunt Sophia said that, I was shocked because I hadn't known that West came from a prominent family. "The young lady to his left is his sister, Olivia. To the right of my son is his cousin, my niece, Kitiara. She is the daughter of my sister who now lives in the United States of America."

"Well, lady Kitiara, it is a pleasure to meet you. How are you enjoying my fabulous country so far?" the queen asked.

"Um, since I've only been here since yesterday, I seem to like it alright, but I have always admired England. Honestly, I wish my mother had never left, don't really know why she did other than for my father." I said nonchalantly. To my surprise, she laughed! They all did, just like in the car!

"My, you have quite a sense of humor! I like your niece Sophia. Now then, since we all know who each other are now, I suggest we get onto the ice cream!" the queen said.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Once back at the house, Aunt Sophia, Michael, West, Olivia and I all shoved through the door, arms loaded with my shopping bags. Convinced that I would never be able to get all these bags up to my room on my own, I was able to convince them to help me carry them up to my room, but I had to convince Thomas about Michael and West first. "Did you have fun?" Tristan asked, leaning against the door frame of my room watching me put all my new clothes away in the dresser and burrow. "You must be very good at getting what you want since it seems that you convinced your aunt to buy you a whole new wardrobe."

"Yes, I had a great time. Michael, Aunt Sophia and I went to a nice cafe for dinner; then Aunt Sophia forced me into buying all of this. Honestly, the only say in what I got was in the style and color of each item. The amount was all up to how much she wanted to spend." I told him, upset that he was mad at me. I had done nothing wrong, so he had no reason to be so abrupt. The bad thing about it was that he had been like this ever since we had gotten back, all of thirty minutes ago. "After shopping for cloths, we went to Mickey D's for supper, meeting up with West and Olivia; then we…"

"Wait a second; you met up with West, as in the guy from the club West?" Tristan interrupted.

"Yes, West from the club West. Is there a problem with that? Do you not like him?" I asked; ticked that he even cared who I hung out with. "Are you jealous Tristan?" I asked him, turning around while folding one of my new shirts.

"What, are you kidding? Why should I be jealous? I don't like him because he seems very suspicious!" Tristan snapped. "My job is to protect you, and I can't very well do that if you sick your watch dog buddy butler on me to keep me away from you. It is my job to be with you every second of every day; including when you are out gallivanting around with your way too rich, stuck up family!"

"My way too rich, stuck up family? Tristan, I never asked you to come." I told him in a very low, controlled voice. "The only reason why you are here is so that my parents don't have you stuck around the house back home doing nothing, getting paid, and getting in the way of the campaign! I am old enough that I can do whatever I want, whenever I want, and wherever I want, and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it! Consider this to be your free vacation, because believe me, once we get home, my parents will not let you get another free second, even in the night. You can verify that with Giles if you wish too. You will go to school with me, you will go on all my dates with me, which I very much will try to change, you will go to every dance with me, you will even have to walk into every store to buy every single thing that I could ever need ranging such as underwear and bras, jeans and T-shirts, even tampons and pads! You signed up for a boatload of work my young bodyguard, so relax while you have the chance, because as long as you have this job, you won't relax, ever again."

"Are you done yet?" Tristan snapped."

"No, I am not done. I am here to be with my family, and you will not interfere with that. Do I make myself clear? I'm not done yet, so you may close your mouth." I was not yelling, my voice wasn't even raised a hair. I was just speaking dangerously low, so he did exactly as I said in fear of getting a tongue lashing, or so I hoped that was the reason. "I have reasons for being here other than for family, and you will have nothing to do with those plans, so don't even try to figure out what they are. Now, since I am done putting my clothes away, you will leave my doorway, go into your room, and I will see you tomorrow morning for breakfast. Goodnight Tristan." With that, I turned back around, put my last shirt in a drawer, pulled out my PJs, turned around, and closed the door in his face. Little did he know that I had no intention of going to bed, so to ensure that he wouldn't come into my room again, I locked the door.

Earlier that evening, I had gone to one of the maids to get some cleaning supplies such as a duster, Lysol, dust rags, pledge, a broom and a dust pan, and a few other things that might come in handy. I had indeed given Thomas back his flashlight so I had to go down to the basement to get my own, and also two lanterns. Since the maid had wanted to do the cleaning herself, I had to tell her that I had to clean my house at home, which wasn't true except for my room, but it made me feel more at home, kind of like a security blanket, bit not. She seemed to have bought that because she said that I could clean whatever I wanted until I felt more at home, and not so homesick. _Well, you might as well get started. There is no way to tell if he has left my door yet, but I think I made it clear that he will not disturb me again. Serves him right anyways, throwing pillows like he did this morning. Maybe I should start at the bottom and work my way up? But what if someone else actually does know about it and they come to check to see if someone has disturbed anything? Well, I'd rather get in trouble than have to walk though dust and spider webs every night._

Sliding out the secret door, I grabbed one of the dust rags and the Lysol and started to clean the steps. I worked all the way up to the top of the stairs, then went back to the bottom and grabbed the duster and started to dust the walls, clearing away all the cobwebs. Halfway up, I noticed a small whole in the stationary wall that I hadn't noticed before. Brushing things away from it, I peered into it, and was shocked to find that it was a peep whole! _Brilliant! Now I can check to see if anyone is in my room before coming out! I'm still going to lock my door for precautions, but now I don't have to worry about walking out blindly!_

Once at the top, I dusted off the door frame and the door, and then sprayed Lysol on the door knob to polish it. Running back down stairs, I grabbed the rest of my cleaning supplies, closed the secret door, and entered the secret room. By this time, I was fairly certain that this was the room that Thomas told us was decayed and had no entranced because it was ceiled off. I figure that the entrance really was ceiled off if there ever was one other than the spiral stairs.

Upon entering the secret room, I followed the maze of boxes to the center, put all my things down where I wouldn't trip over them, and then took the broom, dust pan, and the two lanterns with me back to the beginning. Working my way back to the center of the room, I swept up a tone of dust that I hadn't noticed was on the floor. Unfortunately, I wasn't smart enough to have brought a trash bag, so I ended up making many trips back and forth between where I had left off sweeping, to where I was dumping all the dust into one big pile, knowing that I would have to come back and sweep that pile into a bag tomorrow night. Checking my watch which I had also just gotten today as one of my accessories, I saw that it was three a.m. Deciding that I had done enough, so I left all my cleaning supplies on one of the chests. _Man am I dying to get into those! I'll have to find the key first before I do anything though. After I finish cleaning. And Mother would always have to bribe me into doing this at home! Ha!_

Halfway down the stairs, I checked the peep whole and saw that no one was in my room, so I descended the rest of the way down and entered my room without any problems. Taking my cloths off, I put on the PJs that I had left out just before shutting the door on Tristan's face. Hopping into bed, I said my prayers, and then fell into a nice, deep sleep. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to unlock my door, so I woke up at eight a.m. to someone pounding on my door.

"Kit, are you in there? It's your cousin Michael!" the person pounding on my door said.

"I'm up, just give me a second." I said, pushing the sheets off of me and walking over to the door. "Sorry, I locked my door last night because I had an intruder the night before and I didn't want to get invaded on again. What's up Michael? You are here incredibly early."

"Did you fall asleep in you workout cloths or something?" Michael asked, laughing when he saw what I had on. Looking down, I saw that I was wearing the same pare of PJ's I was the other night when I saw Thomas, then remembered the reaction he had taken to me wearing them. "I thought that my mother bought you a nightgown? No worries, I would prefer sleeping in that over a dress any day. Well, night really."

Laughing, I told him to give me twenty minutes to get dressed. "Okay, I'll meet you out front."

I decided to put on one of the new outfits that Aunt Sophia had bought for me the night before: a light purple nit shirt with a V neck, and bell shaped sleeves, blue jeans that had slits on the sides of the legs with brown leather cords lacing them together, a white silk belt with intricate beading for decoration to go around my hips, a simple gold band with a heart cut out of the top to go on the ring finger of my right hand, a gold necklace with a heart shaped charm, brown leather healed flip flops, and a brown leather hip bag/purse. Walking into my bathroom, I decided to be bold and put on some of the make-up that she had bough for me also, which consisted of foundation, rogue colored blush, black eyeliner, black mascara, sparkly clear lip gloss, and eye shadow which consisted of brown, violet and tan colors which I neatly designed across my eyelids, I had to admit, this was a lot of fun, and I had been missing out on looking quite pretty! I never would have admitted so at home, so I was a little shocked. You could tell that I was wearing make-up, but it definitely wasn't extravagant like you would see on any given girl at any given high school back in the states.

Running downstairs, I went right out the door to see what Michael had wanted. "So, what's up? You have to want something in order to wake me up so early while I'm on vacation." I said, playing with his mind.

"Wow, you look great! Do you normally wear makeup like that? Or clothes like that?" Michael asked, stunned at the difference in my appearance between today and the last two days I had been here.

"No, I have never worn this much makeup, and I never would have even looked at this outfit at home, but I really like this look on me!" I told him laughing.

"Man, West is never going to stop talking about you now." I heard him say under his breath.

"What was that?" I asked, not sure that I had heard him correctly.

"Nothing, I was just thinking out loud. It's an old habit of mine that I really should try to break. Well then, how about breakfast?"

"Sounds great, I'm starving!"

"Well then, I think we should head over to the best pancake house in the city. You do like pancakes, right?"

"You bet! Honestly, who doesn't?"

"Great; let's walk. It's quite a distance from here, but I think they have kept you cooped up in that house and in their limo for far too long. Do you mind?"

"No, I could use the leg stretching. Plus I can get a feel of my way around!"

Once at the pancake house, we sat in silence while waiting for our food. To my disappointment, they didn't have any of those peg games where you can find out your IQ by seeing how few pegs you can leave behind after jumping them. "So, mystery man, what did you want to talk about?" I asked finally, not being able to just sit there any longer.

"What? Why do you call me mystery man?" Michael said laughing. I could be wrong, but it sounded a little forced.

"Well, last night…" I began, but he interrupted me.

"Ah, here's our food. Kit, you're going to love this, they make the best pancakes here."

"Michael, what's wrong with you?" I asked.

"Nothing, I'm just hungry." he said, stuffing his face with strawberry pancake. With no choice, I began to eat also, but regular buttermilk pancakes, nothing special. After all the food was gone and paid for, Michael motioned for me to follow him. I tried talking to him again, but he just kept walking to who knows where. Ahead of us, I could see a park, so I assumed that that was where he was taking me, but he didn't stop. On the other side of the park, I could see a bridge with cars driving across it, and people walking on the side walk next to the road on it as well. There also was a strip of grass with side walks and benches running underneath of it, connecting it to the park. A ways away from the bridge was a small peninsula of rocks, and to my surprise, that was exactly where Michael was heading.

"This is the best fishing spot on the entire river. You do know which river this is, right? And which bridge that is?" he asked, indicating the bridge behind us. We were both seated on the end of the rock bulk head at this point, and Michael seemed to be in a world of his own.

"Of course, I'm not an idiot. This is the Thames River, and that is London Bridge. How stupid do you think I am? I may have been born in the states, but this is my homeland, my heritage. Half of it anyways." I told him, a little hurt that he didn't think that I was any smarter than the average run of the mill teen doped up on drugs. "Michael, what's wrong with you? You were really cool the first night I met you, but you seem to be getting lost in your own thoughts!"

"What do you mean?" he asked, still not looking at me.

"First off, you wouldn't let me ask a single question last night, and today, you wake me up real early so that I can have breakfast with you and a nice walk through the park, but you won't let me say a word! Michael, for the last time, what's…"

"I haven't seen the right opportunity to say anything." Michael murmured; once again interrupting me, but this time I didn't care. "There are so many things that you don't know, and nobody wants to tell you. I just can't take it!"

"What are you talking about?" I asked, truly concerned that something was wrong back home. That my mother really was sick and that she was in the hospital, or worse, dying. "Michael, you have to tell me what's going on. Is it my mother? Is she really sick?"

"I think you misunderstood me. Well, I can see how that wouldn't be too hard to do. I'm not making much sense am I?" he asked himself; still not looking at me! "Do you know anything about our family?" Finally, he turned his head to look at me, but I wish he hadn't because his eyes were filled with grief, pain, worry, and exasperation; desperation! I couldn't for the life of me figure out what he meant, so I told him the only thing I could think of.

"We're English?" _No duh stupid! Why else would they be living here, and why else would we have English accents? One more step towards the blond side._ I thought. It was a running joke back home with my friends. You see, we all love star wars, but since our "gang" consists of all girls, we tend to get a little ditzy and start acting blond occasionally, so instead of going over to the "dark side", we cross over to the "blond side." The blond side is what we refer to preps and cheerleaders who only care about what they look like and say words such as "like" and "totally" after every three words.

He laughed, but again it sounded forced, but more so this time. "I mean specifically about our heritage. Our status I guess you could say."

"Oh, you mean how we are related to the royal family?" I asked, sounding even more blond than before. "Oh, that reminds me of the question I was dying to get out last night. If we are related to them, doesn't that make us…"

"Royal?" he said, interrupting me once again. "Kit, I really don't know if I'm the one who's supposed to tell you this, but nobody else seems to want too, so I guess I have too. Nana was supposed to be queen instead of her sister because she is, was, the eldest child. Grams was supposed to be her heir because she is her only child, and then your mother, because my mother is your mother's younger sister. Kit, you are the rightful heir to the English throne, which makes you a princess."

Needless to say, I was stunned, and every bit as confused as I was before I left home, because mother never told me I was a princess! The entire time I thought that she had been making it up about my great great great great grandmother was a queen! "Wait a second, you're older, Nate is older, why aren't one of you to inherit the throne?"

"Like I said, your mother is older than mine, so that rules me out, though I still am a prince. Who is Nate?" Michael asked.

"Nathaniel is my older brother. I call him Nate for short. Since he is older, shouldn't he inherit it instead of me then?"

"No. It has been tradition for a long time for the eldest daughter to rule England, not a son."

"Oh." I said. "But, I'm not the heir to the throne, Prince William is!" I exclaimed. It would be really cool to be a princess and all, but I can't even hold a school office for student council, so how was I supposed to be a queen? "Um, how is it that Nana didn't become queen?" I asked.

Michael sighed and turned away from me again, staring out over the river. "That, I cannot tell you." he said after a long sigh. "Come on, we had better get back before they start looking for you. I didn't exactly tell anyone that I was taking you out." he said, standing up on the rocks, brushing off his pants, then balancing his way back to shore.

Standing up as well, I called after him, "You cannot, or will not?" Michael just ignored me, or maybe didn't hear me since the wind was blowing towards me and away from him. I heard him shout and saw him wave to someone walking up the path. Curious as to whom it was, like always, I started walking back to shore after him, but all of a sudden, everything started spinning and all I could see were a bunch of colors rushing into the center of my vision. Suddenly, I saw a drawer open, and inside where several keys. Someone's hand reached inside and grabbed one of the keys, then turned around and headed towards a bunch of trunks in the center of a room. This was the secret room! I now knew where the keys to open the chests were! Then, all the colors darted away from my line of sight, and everything started spinning again.

As I came around from my vision; that had to be what they were, there was just no other explanation; I just had no idea how I was getting them; I heard a bunch of splashing and someone grabbing me by the waist. _How did I get in the water? _I wondered as I realized that I was in the river. Opening my eyes, all I could see was the head and shoulder of the guy who was pulling me out. The hair was too dark to be Michael's, so who was this guy? I suddenly felt the ground under me, so I tried to sit up, but something was holding my shoulders and pulling me up higher. My mystery rescuer then turned around from helping to haul me up, and I saw that it was West! I also saw Michael's head appear over mine, so it seemed that he had been the one pulling me up by the shoulders. Again I tried to sit up, but both of them pushed me back down; firmly, but gently.

"You know," West said, "we really need to work on your balance. This is the second time you have collapsed near me!"

"You know why don't you?" Michael said laughing. "It's because she keeps falling for you." He put a little extra emphasis on the word for.

"Yeah yeah yeah, I'm fine, so would you two please let me up? I just lost my balance and hit my head on one of the rocks." I said. That was true; I did lose my balance because of my vision, and probably did hit my head, because my head hurt an awful lot for just plopping down in the water.

To my pleasure, they did as I asked. Though they both put my arms around their necks so that I could balance myself on them, but not before Michael and West both took off their Oxford sweatshirts and handed them too me. West was faster, so rolling my eyes, I put his on.

"Are you heading home?" West asked Michael over my head. They were both taller than me, so it wasn't that hard for them to do; talk over my head I mean.

"Yeah, I kind of kidnapped her for breakfast, so I thought I had better get her back before they send Thomas out to find her." Michael said, laughing at the sight of Thomas wandering around London looking for me.

Walking back through the park, I knew that what Michael had mumbled earlier was true, because I kept feeling like someone was watching me. Sure enough, every time I pretended like I was looking around at all the trees and gardens, usually in the direction that West was walking next to me, I could see his eyes twitch back to pretending to people watch. It was a funny site, him twitching every time I glanced in his general direction.

When we made it home, West escorted us to the front door, and poked his head in for a few seconds to say high to Grams and Nana who where sitting in the parlor. Michael made a beeline for the kitchen, probably to get food, so West pulled me back outside onto the front steps.

"Hey, how about I kidnap you for dinner tomorrow and show you the sites? I know that people keep telling you that you will get to see some stuff, but to my knowledge, that hasn't happened yet has it?" he asked. I grinned and shook my head to let him know that I had seen nothing. "So, would you mind if I came by around ten?"

"How is it kidnapping if you tell me when you are going to do it?" I asked, playing with his head.

"Well then, would you rather pretend to walk around the garden and then I snatch you out of it?" West asked, playing along.

"Hmm, you still are telling me what you are doing, so I still don't see how it's kidnapping. How about I get up early tomorrow and tell Aunt Sophia and Grams and Nana that I'm going jogging tomorrow morning. I'll be running through the park back to the stone pier that Michael took me too, and then back here." I told him.

"Okay, but you have to make sure that you have some fresh cloths to change into."

"But why if I'm just going running?" I said, giving him a coy smile.

"Well then, I guess you'll just have to enjoy your morning jog. I'll see you later then I guess." he said, then turned around and walked back in the direction we came. I was just a little confused because I thought that he was really trying to make a dinner date with me. I guess he just wanted to take me site seeing after all! Another day then, but I'm still going to keep my jogging date. I need the exercise because, like Michael said this morning, I have been cooped up in this house for way too long.


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

That night, I went up again to the secret room to clean, but since I had finished sweeping, I decided to work on the desk. I had already made up my mind in the fact that I wouldn't open the chests until everything was clean, but that didn't stop me from thinking about what I would find. To my pleasure and surprise, dusting the desk and polishing it with pledge didn't take long at all, so I moved on to the chests, dusting and polishing. When I finished that, I went over to the cushion and dusted it as well.

Looking at my watch, I saw that it was only midnight, so I decided to start rummaging through the drawers to see what I would find. To my disgust, I found lots and lots of cobwebs, many containing spiders! "Gross! Why do theses thing have to exist?" I said to myself as I took the duster and whipped everything away so that I could get inside the drawers. All of the drawers on the left leg where empty, along with all of the ones on the right leg. "That's odd, I could have sworn that this was where the keys were." Tuning around, I sat on top of the desk, and then jumped off when I heard a crack. Turning back around to see what I had broken, I saw that there was another drawer that I had missed because it had been painted over with stain. In the middle under the top of the desk was a long but shallow drawer. Digging my nails in between the cracks, I was able to pry it open since there were no pull knobs. Just as I had seen in my premonition, there lay five keys. Glancing behind me, I counted and found only four chests. "What's this other one go to?" I wondered out loud. Figuring that I would find something else among the chests, I moved on to the shelves and the cupboards on the back of the desk. As I could already see, the shelves contained nothing, so I reached for the cupboard to open it, but it wouldn't budge!

"Oh, I get it." Picking up the five keys, I inserted each one into the lock that I had just noticed, trying to find the one that would open it. Neither the first, second, or third worked, but by the forth try, I found the right one. I couldn't tell by looking at it how to tell it apart from all of the others because they all looked exactly the same; long shaft with a clover shaped handle one end, and three prongs on the end that is inserted into the lock. "Well, if they fit different locks, they have to be different." So, looking harder, I saw that each key each had three prongs, but the widths and distances between each prong were all different. Opening the cupboard, I found a stack of papers, also covered in a thick layer of dust.

Carefully taking the stack out, I blew off the dust, then brushed the rest off with the duster. The first page was blank, so I put it down on the desk top. The next page contained a single word written in a neat cursive hand; journal.

Placing that page face down on top of the other, I looked at the third page, which was covered in the same neat hand as the previous page.

_20 of May_

_I'm stuck in my room again with nothing to do. I accidentally knocked an elfish vase over and broke it earlier today; apparently elfish porcelain is very valuable because Father became infuriated with me and would have beaten me if Mother hadn't begged he send me to my room instead. Well, taking her advice, he ordered me to stay in my room and not make a sound until Nana and Pap come. Unfortunately for me, they won't arrive for another three days! Mother at least made sure that Lucy was sent up to my room, along with this which is my tenth birthday present._

_23 of May_

_Nana and Pap just arrived, so I was able to leave my room, but I decided not too. Sometimes I'm glad that I'm…oops, I can't write what I was going to say; Mother forbade me to do so. Well, since I am ordered to my room so that I have to stay there for days on end, I have come to enjoy the solitude._

_Since I never came out of my room to great his parents, Father thought that I was avoiding them, so he ordered me to come down and not leave there sides until they retire. Well, I did as I was told, and was then sent to my room because I wouldn't leave them alone! Sometimes I wish that Mother, Lucy and I weren't the only people who knew about my conditions, so that I wouldn't have to keep obeying everyone!_

_11 of September_

_I know I haven't written in many years, but father found out about my journal and forbade me to continue writing. I am now sixteen, and Mother, Lucy and I still have not found a way to fix my condition. Lucy says that Anita must fix me, but she thinks that she gave me a wonderful gift so that I will be a better daughter and wife! Lucy is infuriated because Anita refuses to see that if someone orders me to cut off my head, I will have to because I have the so called "gift of obedience." There, I said it! Over the years, I have found ways of twisting the commands._

_Father is obsessed with finding a proper husband for me and I'm afraid it will be an old man who could care less about me._

_30 of January_

_Mother is dead! She died three days ago; her funeral was today. Oh my, I never thought that I would see her die! Prince Charles was there, and he seemed very upset about her death; more so than father!_

_3 of January_

_Father is even more determined to marry me off! He even tried to feed me love mushrooms! He also married a horrible old hag with two despicable daughters, Tabitha and Olivia. They hate me and keep demanding that I give them things that were my mothers, because they think that I am not worthy of having such beautiful things! But the worst thing is that Father is sending me to a boarding school with them! I'm never going to come home alive!_

_I told Charles and he was very sad to see me go, but said that he would talk to my father to see if I could visit him over breaks._

Reading through the first four entries, I felt so sorry for this girl! To have a father that beats her is bad enough, and the fact that she has to obey everyone for some reason is very odd, but to have her future decided upon whom her father chooses for her to marry? I would either run away from home or just kill him or any man he tries to choose! Well, not really kill him, but I'd want to.

Looking at my watch again, I saw that it was almost three, so I put all of the pages back in the cupboard, locked it, and put the keys back in the secret drawer.

_I'm beginning to notice a pattern here. _I thought to myself. _Everything seems to be in secret places! First the secret stairs, then the secret room, the secret drawer, what next? _Shrugging, I left the room, locked the door, walked down the stairs, peeked through the secret whole in the wall, entered my room, closed the secret door, put on my PJ's and hopped into bed.

At seven a.m., I got up and went running. Since I really had no idea where anything was, I decided to just run to and through the park that Michael had taken me to the day before. When I reached the park, I found a trail wandering off into a thicket of trees, so I followed it. I passed a few other joggers and some people walking, and even an occasional couple sitting on a blanket under a tree eating a picnic breakfast. Halfway back to the park, I heard someone run up behind me, but dismissed it for another runner, until I heard them run up right behind me, and felt their arms wrap around me, forcing me to a stop and off the path. Before I could scream, their hand was over my mouth, and I was not able to break free of their grasp. Remembering one of the hints I had gotten over the years from Giles, my old body-guard, I forced my body to go limp, so that my attacker would think that I had passed out, in hope that he would loosen his grip enough for me to break free.

To my relief, he did exactly that, and let me collapse onto the ground. As soon as I saw his shadow through my eyelids from his bending over me, I sprang into action. First, I grabbed his shoulders, driving my knee into his chest. I then leaped to my feet as he struggled for air; it was indeed a he; and began to punch him in the sides.

"Kit, cut it out!" I heard him gasp.

"Oh my gosh!" I exclaimed, ceasing the torrent of flying fists. "West! Why in the bloody hell did you pretend to kidnap me?"

"I told you I was going too yesterday!" West gasped, attempting to stand up, but clutched his ribs in pain.

"Here, let me help. I didn't think you meant a literal kidnapping! Why didn't you just run up beside me?"

"Because I didn't think that you would resist so much!" he said laughing, and then winced in pain. Walking out of the trees, I had to half support him. I was beginning to wonder if I had broken any ribs, when he suddenly tapped me on the shoulder, and took off running. Confused, I stood there for a few second, and then realized he was playing tag and took off after him.

To my surprise, he headed back into the tees, pausing ever once-in-a-while to make sure I could keep up, and had to take off very quickly when he noticed that I was faster than he had originally thought. Watching him turn into a clump of trees, I plowed in after him, but he had just vanished!

"West?" I called, wondering if he was just hiding, or was really that far ahead of me. "West, this place gives me the creeps! Where are you?"

Hearing a rustle from behind me, I spun around expecting it to be West trying to scare me again, but it was only a rabbit. Suddenly there was a hand on my shoulder, so spinning around again, I found West grinning like a fool. "A bit jumpy today are we?" he asked. Hitting him in the shoulder, he grimaced, but quickly returned his smile to his face. I couldn't help but smile at him as well.

Again, he headed into the thicket until we came upon a clearing. In the middle of the clearing was a blanket spread out on the ground with an assortment of food on top. "I thought you might be hungry after that run."

"Well that was very thoughtful after attempting to kidnap me." I told him indignantly.

"It was a joke! I honestly did not think that I would frighten you so much, especially since I told you!"

"Yes, but you made it seem like you had changed your mind! Okay, why don't we just start this over? We haven't exactly started out on the same foot this morning." I suggested. Agreeing West stuck out his hand and told me good morning. Shaking his hand, I burst out into laughter, because he had put the funniest expression on his face.


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Coming downstairs a few days later after another morning run, I heard some laughter in the front parlor, so I walked that way to see what was going on. Michael was sitting in there with Aunt Sophia, Grams, Prince Charles, Prince William, his wife and his son. Stunned, I just stood there until Prince William's wife noticed me. Smiling, she beckoned me to join them. Caroline was a very nice girl and I like her a lot, but she seems to be a little clingy. I mean, the other night at the palace, when I was introduced to everyone, she gave her baby, Scott, to Prince William, leapt up from the couch and ran over to hug me. For the rest of the night, I had to sit next to her, with her arm through mine like we were best friends for years before this.

Grudgingly, I walked into the room and sat down on the only seat available, which just happened to be next to her, but also next to Price Charles, my second third cousin. Wow, that sounds confusing even to me! Well, the talk was about Scott's first birthday: what he needed, what Caroline wanted for him but really for her, what kind of party they should have, where they should hold it, how to decorate the place, on and on and on! By dinner time, I was totally fed up with talk of Scott, so I excused myself to go out into the back yard and walk around.

To my surprise, Tristan was sitting on a bench reading a book. Upon my entering the yard, he looked up, then immediately went back to reading. Trying to ignore him, I walked to the other side of the ward which was a good deal away so it wasn't that hard to do. Where I was, there was a flower garden which consisted of red, pink, yellow and orange roses, pink and red tulips, geraniums, gardenias and chrysanthemums. After perusing the garden for a little while, I decided to go back to my room to read when I heard a twig snap behind me. Turning around, I saw that West was on the other side of the metal wrought fence, hidden from view behind a tree; except for the fact that I could see both of his shoulders around its trunk. Glancing behind me at Tristan to make sure that he was still paying attention to his book and not to me, I smiled and walked quickly over to the fence.

"So, are you bored of your entrapment yet?" West asked when I got close enough for him to talk to me without his voice carrying.

Trying to suppress a laugh, I glanced at Tristan once more, just to make sure. "What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Kidnapping you."

"You already did that."

"Yeah, but this time I'm making sure that I don't get beat up while trying to do so." This time I couldn't help but laugh out loud, remembering what I had done to him last time. To my horror, he put his book down and walked over to where I was hiding.

"What's so funny?" he asked coldly. I had been lucky enough to avoid him most of the time so he hadn't had a chance to scold or tell me off, though why he didn't just do it when I came into the garden was beyond me.

"Oh, nothing really. I just had a funny thought of the sprinklers coming on and you getting soaking wet." I said, trying to think quickly so that I wouldn't get West into trouble for trespassing onto our yard. Even though the garden was fenced in, we still owned the woods behind the house for a couple of acres.

"Really; well then, you would be disappointed to know that the sprinklers only come on at night. That way they don't waist water because of it getting evaporated out of the ground by the sun. This way, the ground has several hours to soak in the needed water before daylight." Tristan said scoffishly.

"Okay, that's a good thing to know if I ever decide to take a midnight stroll though the garden. Thanks for the tip." I said smiling. I couldn't help but glance at the tree West was hiding behind, hoping that he had done at least a little better of a job at hiding himself when Tristan had walked over. Apparently he had turned sideways so you would only be able to notice him if you stood to one side of the tree or the other.

Tristan saw what I was doing and peered into the woods for the real reason as to why I had laughed but couldn't see anything because he didn't know what he was really looking for. When he looked back at me, he scowled, then walked back to his bench and continued to read, even though I could tell that he was paying more attention to me than to his book.

"What's up with him?" West asked curiously, but not coming out from behind the tree.

Trying to appear as if I was really interested in the different flowers, I responded, "Oh, he's just really peeved that I keep slipping away from him so he can't trail along behind me like a watch dog."

Snorting, West peered around the tree at my bodyguard. "You must really hate him."

"I don't hate him; I just wish that he hadn't followed me here. But it doesn't help that he is arrogant either." I said bitterly. "He thinks that he is so much better than Giles, and I hate it because I really liked my old bodyguard! I was more than just a job to him, which is all that I am and all that I ever will be to Tristan."

"Then why don't you give him the slip again tonight?" West said mysteriously.

"Why? What would I be doing; instead of playing chess with Michael with Tristan's overpowering gaze upon me at every moment?" I said, sarcastically at the end.

"Well, I don't know why Michael said he would play chess with you because he is coming to the club tonight with me, and I want you to come along also. I think it would be really fun; and you could get away from Mr. Nosy over there." Again I tried to hold in my giggles, but I wasn't too successful because Tristan looked at me again. Smiling, I plucked one of the really small pink roses and stuffed it behind my right ear, first making sure that there weren't any thorns. As I had hoped, he went back to reading.

When I turned back to West, he looked considerably less happy than he had a second ago. "What's up? Why are you so down all of a sudden?" I asked confusedly. I was used to people doing this around me, but West hadn't done it before.

"Why did you do that?" he asked.

Puzzled, I looked at him. "Why did I do what? I just smiled at him to make him leave me alone."

"No, not that…the flower."

"What about the flower? I've always worn them behind me ear. Is that something that you do over here in England?"

"No, I mean, yes, we do, well the girls do, oh brother." Taking a deep breath, he started over. "Girls wear flowers behind their ear to signify that they have a boyfriend or not."

"So?" I interrupted, clearly not seeing what he was getting at. "What does that have to do with my going to the club with you?"

"Well, the flower is very symbolic. You would wear it behind your right ear if you were single, and behind your left if you had a boyfriend. I didn't know that you had a boyfriend. You can still come if you want…"

"Oh no! West, I'm so sorry!" I said, trying very hard to keep my voice down. "I didn't know that it mattered! Here…" I quickly switched the rose to behind my right ear instead of my left. "Is that better?" I asked smiling coyly. He just laughed at me.

At nine o'clock, I headed up to my room pretending to go to bed, but really I was getting ready to go out to the club again; but this time I was going with West, not Tristan. Having scoped out ahead of time what I was going to do in order to get out of the house, I found that there was a trellis full of ivy climbing the wall right next to my window. Unfortunately, it didn't reach my window very well, and if I tried to climb out onto it, I would possibly fall. Looking higher though, I found that it ran right up to the windows of my secret room. The only problem was going to be finding out how I could get the window open. Changing into nicer clothes, I stuffed my bed to make it look like I was asleep, and then went through the secret door and up the stairs into my secret room, making sure to close all of the doors behind me.

I had made a lot of progress on the room over the last couple of days. I hadn't moved the boxes against the walls in case someone found their way up so that they wouldn't know I was there, but I had been able to clear out all the dust. Walking over to the windows, I examined the sill and the frames to see if there was a way to open one of them. To my dismay, I found nothing. Disappointed, I sat down on the oversized window seat, dangling my lets over the edge. Out of an old habit that I could never break, I started to swing them back and forth, but I accidentally kicked the board that held up the seat. The sound it reverberated was hollow. I thought nothing of it at first; I mean, of course it was hollow, how else could they have made the seat? But then, it hit me…what if the exit was at the bottom of the window? Excited, I crouched down onto the floor and started feeling the board, trying to find a crack which inevitably would mean a hidden door.

Ecstatic, I found a whole big enough for one of my fingers. Putting in my index finger, I gripped the board from both sides and pulled, and it gave way to a roomy crawl space. Running over to the desk where I kept a towel to wipe off any dust that I missed, I shoved it in front of me, sweeping the floor as I crawled under the seat. Once I reached the window, I wriggled my way out, towel in hand. It was covered in dust, surprise, surprise. Placing the towel back on the desk, I grabbed a flashlight. Shinning it into the crawl space, I found that the window did not extend to the floor, but there were latches on the wall. Crawling back under, I went to investigate, with the flashlight of course, and found that it was a secret panel cut into the outside of the house. Once the latches had been undone, I pulled, but nothing happened. Sighing, I rested my head on the panel, but it didn't stay there long. With the pressure of my head, it swung out and fell away into the night. Shocked, I went to grab it before it could fall, but found that it was attached to the house on hidden hinges so that it would do a one hundred and eighty degree swing, resting against the side of the house underneath of me.

Wriggling to the open space, I saw that the trellis was right next to, and underneath of me; it zigzagged up the house going around the windows, but it was going to be impossible to get out without falling if I went head first, so I crawled back out of the crawl space, then back in, but thin time feet first. Pleased with myself, I started out of the whole, feeling with my feet for the trellis, when I realized that I would fall if I didn't find something to hold onto. Searching this time with my hands, I found two groves in the floor that my hands and fingers fit nicely in. Wriggling the rest of the way out, I was able to climb down the trellis and onto the ground. _This is way to coincidental, but hey, it works!_

When I was still bout five feet off the ground, I felt a pair of hands encircle my waist and help me the rest of the way down. Turning around once I had both feet planted, I found West grinning at me through the night. "How long have you been watching me?" I asked, thrilled that it hadn't been Tristan or Thomas.

"I just got here. How in the world did you get out and onto that trellis? As far as I know, the stain glass windows don't open, and believe me, Michael and I have tried." he responded.

"Oh, well, I guess you missed a spot to check because I got out with no difficulty at all." I said. Not lying, but also not telling the truth. I had gotten out with no difficulty, but I also hadn't gone through the windows.

"We must have; well, shall we be going before anyone looks out a window and sees us?" he said, offering me his arm. Grinning to myself, hoping that he couldn't see my face start to burn red in the moonlight, we headed out of the front yard and onto the sidewalk. A block away we got into his mustang and headed towards the club.

Once in the club, we went up to the observation room to see if we could spot Michael and his girlfriend. When we spotted him them, we made our way down to the couch area in the dance room. "I'm not leaving you up there again." West had whispered in my ear as we neared the noisy room. I glanced up at him wondering what he had meant. "Last time you passed out." he reminded me with a grin. I grinned back laughing and shaking my head. When we made it over to Michael, he introduced us to Lily, his date, and then me to everyone in the vicinity. There was Alex and his date Lisa, Mark and his date Katie, George and his date Winnie, Sean and his cousin Nichole who was visiting from France, Nick and his sister and cousin Leigh and Luke. All of them had families with titles such as Duke/Duchess, Lord/Lady, or Count/Countess.

We all sat in the arm chairs and on the couches talking about practically everything. Most of them seemed to be very interested in me and why I was here instead of in America because apparently they all desperately wanted to leave here and go there.

After telling them all about D.C. and what school is like there and what it's like to be a senator's daughter, my throat became very parched. Obviously West could tell because he excused himself and came back with two cokes in his hands. Handing one to me, I sipped it and listened to the discussion about what form of government is better: their parliament and queen vs. my congress and president. Every once in a while I'd jump in to protest something one of them had said, to correct them, or to agree with a point that they had made. All in all, it was very fun because I could tell that I was the youngest one there being the only one who hadn't entered college yet.

All of a sudden, all the girls started to squeal and pull on their date's arms, making them get up and dance. Apparently the song that had just come on was very popular over here because there was a mad dash for the dance floor. I looked at them all and laughed thinking of people in Hollywood flocking around movie stars begging for their autographs. West stood up from the arm rest of the arm chair I was sitting in and where he had been sitting, extending his hand to me. "Would the lady care to dance?" he asked grinning. I then realized what song was playing: Sk8er Boi by Avril Lavine, an American artist.Smiling, I stood up and took his hand. Once on the dance floor, I stood there wondering what I was supposed to do because I know that I'm not a good dancer except for ballroom and swing dancing. To my surprise, West started to swing, pulling me along after him. This was when the lyrics started playing instead of just the introductory music.

_He was a boi, she was a girl, can I make it anymore obvious. He was a punk, she did ballet, what more can I say. He wanted her, she'd never tell, secretly she wanted him as well. All of her friends stuck up their nose; they had a problem with his baggy cloths._

_He was a sk8er boi, she said see you later boi; he wasn't good enough for her. She had a pretty face, but her head was up in space; she needed to come back down to earth. He was a sk8er boi, she said see you later boi; he wasn't good enough for her. She had a pretty face, but her head was up in space; she needed to come back down to earth._

_Five years from now, she sits at home, feeding the baby she's all along. She turns on TV, guess who she sees, sk8er boi rockin up MTV. She calls up her friends, they already know, they've all got tickets to see his show. She tags along, stands in the crowd, looks up at the man that she turned down._

_He was a sk8er boi, she said see you later boi; he wasn't good enough for her. Now he's a super star, slammin on his guitar; does your pretty face see what he's worth. He was a sk8er boi, she said see you later boi; he wasn't good enough for her. Now he's a super star, slammin on his guitar; does your pretty face see what he's worth._

_Sorry girl but you missed out, well tough luck that boi's mine now. We are more than just good friends, this is how the story ends. To bad that you couldn't see, see that man that boi could be. There is more than meets the eye, I see the soul that is inside._

_He's just a boi, and I'm just a girl; can I make it anymore obvious. We are in love, haven't you heard, how we rock each other's worlds._

_I'm with the sk8er boi, I said see you later boi; I'll be back stage after the show. I'll be at the studio, singing the song we wrote, about the girl you used to know. I'm with the sk8er boi, I said see you later boi; I'll be back stage after the show. I'll be at the studio, singing the song we wrote, about the girl you used to know._

"So, who are you good enough for?" he asked when the chorus hit.

"What do you mean?" I asked looking up at him after he spun me around and pulled me into him.

"Well, what kind of guidelines do you have? What kind of guy will you say see you later boy to?"

"Why?" I asked, totally confused. Just then, the second verse hit.

"Well, I don't want you to end up like the girl in this song because you set too many expectations. You're too nice for that."

"Yeah, well the girl in this song seems nice, she just has bad taste in friends if she lets her friends talk her out of going out with a guy she likes." I told him. We continued dancing in silence. After the song ended, another Avril Lavine song came on, but this was a slow song, I'm With You.

_I'm standing on the bridge; I'm waiting in the dark; I thought that you'd be here by now. There's nothing but the rain; no footsteps on the ground; I'm listening but there's no sound. _

_Isn't anyone trying to find me? Won't somebody come take me home? It's a damn cold night; trying to figure out this life. Won't you take my hand, take me somewhere new; I don't know who you are but I, I'm with you._

_I'm looking for a place; I'm searching for a place; is anybody here I know. 'Cause nothings going right; and everything's a mess; and no one likes to be alone._

_Isn't anyone trying to find; me won't somebody come take me home. It's a damn cold night; trying to figure out this life. Won't you take me by the hand, take me somewhere new; I don't know who you are but I, I'm with you. I'm with you._

_Why is everything so confusing? Maybe I'm just out of my mind. Yeah yeah._

_It's a damn cold night; trying to figure out this life. Won't you take my by the hand, take me somewhere new; I don't know who you are but I, I'm with you._

"What are you searching for?" West asked me.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, my mind flashing back to my secret room and all of the things that I'm sorting through.

"What are you searching for? What are you looking for to make you happy?"

"I don't understand." I told him truthfully.

"Listen to the song. How is it that you connect with her?" Listening, I got what he had been asking me for the last two songs. Feeling a little uncomfortable, I went and got another soda after the song ended and walked back to the arm chair to find that Michael was sitting there by himself.

"Hey, where's Lily?" I asked.

"Oh, she wanted to dance some more, but I don't like dancing all that much so I told her to dance with someone else. Where's West?" he asked looking around.

"Oh, probably dancing with Lily." We both laughed a little.

"So, how are you liking my country?" he asked.

"I like it a lot so far. I haven't been able to go anywhere except for the park and here, but of what I've seen I like it. Your friends seem to be very nice." I said.

"That's because they like you. If they didn't, they never would have said more than a few words to you." he told me laughing.

"Michael, you still haven't answered my questions. Why not?" I asked.

He looked at me seriously then sighed. "I guess I'm just trying to protect you like everyone else in our family." he said, glancing around to see if anyone could hear, but they were all pretty much still on the dance floor.** "**Nobody wants to be the one who has to tell you what's been going on in our family."

"But what is it? I know a little, but I don't know if what I know is true or not." I said, sitting on the edge of my seat. "Please Michael, I need to know! I need to know if my suspicions are right or not!"

"I, I can't Kit! It's complicated, I just can't do it! You need to ask Nana or Grams or even my mother, but please, _please_, don't make _me_ tell you!"

"But…" I started, but at that moment, the rest of the group came back over and I had to drop it or risk everyone finding out that something was up with our family.


	14. Author Note

Hello! Wow, it has been a LONG time! Okay, so I'm soooooooo sorry about not updating, but senior year is rough! Well, I know that there isn't an actual "new" chapter, but you should go back and look at my other chapters.

I have changed the names of some of the characters to make them more of my own so that I have less plagiarism. (This way I could work more towards publishing. Not that I am planning on publishing this, but it is good practice.)

Also, several of the chapters have been changed in minor ways, so you might want to go back and look at those as well. Well, I hope that I will get at least a little more free time soon to write because I really want to finish this story! But I guess this is all for now. Enjoy!


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